Nuts and dried fruits: Natural occurrence of emerging Fusarium mycotoxins

The occurrence of enniatins (ENs) and beauvericin (BEA) in nuts, dried fruits and dates available in Valencia (Spain) was surveyed in this study. To do this, seventy-four samples of nuts, dried fruits and dates were analyzed for the determination of mycotoxin contamination. Mycotoxins were identified and quantified using an ultrasonic-C-18 extraction and LC-MS/MS with a triple quadrupole (QqQ) mass analyzer. The frequencies of contamination of nuts, shell, dried fruits and dates were 50%, 80%, 35.7% and 83.3%, respectively. Enniatin A (ENA) was the most predominant EN found in nuts (45.2%) while ENB was the most common EN found in dates (58.3%). The analytical results of the shell samples showed a protective effect of the shell, avoiding the contamination of the fruit with mycotoxins. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.