Determination of mean daily intakes of aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin M1, ochratoxin A, trichothecenes and fumonisins in 24-hour diets of children in the Netherlands

In 2006, a duplicate diet study of children's food was carried out in the Netherlands. Parents or guardians of 123 children collected duplicates of the 24-hour diets. Levels of aflatoxin M-1, aflatoxin B-1, ochratoxin A, trichothecenes and fumonisins were determined. Aflatoxin M-1 was detectable in 10% of the samples, with all toxin levels below the limit of quantification. Aflatoxin B-1 could be detected in 80% of the samples, while in 47% of all samples aflatoxin B-1 was quantifiable. Ochratoxin A could be quantified in all samples. Deoxynivalenol was quantified in almost every sample, while T-2 and HT-2 toxins could only be quantified in 3.2% and 6.4% of the samples respectively. 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol was detected in 1.6% of the samples. Fumonisin B-1 was detected in 28% of the samples and fumonisin B-2 in a quarter of merely those samples where fumonisin B-1 was detected. In 20% of the samples fumonisin B-1 could be quantified and in a quarter of those samples fumonisin B-2 could be quantified too. The analytical results were used to estimate levels of daily intake. Only the mean daily intake levels for aflatoxin B-1, ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol and fumonisins B-1 and B-2 could reliably be estimated. The values were 0.1, 4.1, 291 and 28 ng/kg bw/day respectively, all are well below the corresponding tolerable daily intakes. For aflatoxin B-1 a tolerable intake does not exist, but the intake value for this mycotoxin was very low if compared to the value that would result from the intake of food, if it was contaminated with aflatoxin B-1 at the EU regulatory limit, specified for baby food. The mean daily intakes of the mycotoxins determined in children's food in the Netherlands are low and implicate that there is no health risk for children due to exposure from the studied mycotoxins.