Natural occurrence of deoxynivalenol in wheat, wheat flour and bakery products in Argentina

The objective of this study was to evaluate the natural occurrence of deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat, wheat flour and different kinds of breads and pastries widely consumed by the population in Argentina. Of 60 wheat samples analysed, 93.3% were contaminated. The average DON contamination level over all samples was 1798 mu g/kg, and the minimum and maximum values were 100 mu g/kg and 9250 mu g/kg, respectively. The wheat flour samples (61 samples) were contaminated with DON at levels ranging from 250 mu g/kg to 9000 mu g/kg with an average of 1309 mu g/kg. The frequency of DON contamination over 42 samples of different bakery products was 92.8%, with levels ranging from 200 mu g/kg to 2800 mu g/kg with an average of 464 mu g/kg. These results suggest a high risk for consumers of wheat products and the Meed to monitor final products before consumption.