Analysis of some breakfast cereals on the French market for their contents of ochratoxin A, citrinin and fumonisin B1:: development of a method for simultaneous extraction of ochratoxin A and citrinin

Crops may be contaminated by mycotoxins which can persist in the final products. Forty-five breakfast cereals were collected in French supermarkets. Ochratoxin A (OTA) and citrinin (CIT) were simultaneously extracted by a new method based on solvent partition validated in-house. The recoveries were over 80% for CIT and OTA. Fumonisin B, (FBI) was analysed by an IUPAC method. The recoveries for FBI ranged from 50% to 70%, depending on the matrix. The losses were located at the step of immunoaffinity clean-up. OTA was detected in 69% of the samples; 20% of them were above the EU limit of 3 mu g/kg. Twenty percent contained CIT (1.542 mu g/kg). FBs were detected, not only in cornflakes, but also in products containing oats or rice, in the range 1-1110 mu g/kg. Some samples were contaminated by all three mycotoxins. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.