Contamination of four Alternaria toxins in wheat flour sampled in Jiangsu province

  Objective  To detect Alternaria toxins in wheat flour samples collected in Jiangsu province and to examine Alternaria contamination to wheat.

  Methods  Totally 105 wheat flour samples were collected from supper markets, street markets and retail stores in 12 regions of Jiangsu province in 2016. After ultrasonic extraction and purification with HLB solid-phase extraction column, tenuazonic acid (TeA), alternariol (AOH), tentoxin (TEN), and alternariol methyl ether (AME) in the samples were detected with ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS).

  Results  All the four Alternaria toxins were detected in the 105 wheat flour samples and the detection rate of TEN was 100%. For the detected samples, the concentration ranged 5.9 – 173.5 μg/Kg (mean = 56.1 μg/Kg) for TeA, 1.4 –4.7 μg/Kg (2.0 μg/Kg) for AOH, and 1.4 – 15.5 μg/Kg (6.7 μg/Kg) for TEN, respectively. The detection rate of AME was 88%, with the concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 8.2 μg/Kg and a mean of 1.2 μg/Kg.

  Conclusion  There is Alternaria toxin contamination for wheat flour retailed in markets in Jiangsu province, but the contamination levels are relatively low compared to those reported.