Bioaccessibility of Deoxynivalenol and its natural co-occurrence, with Ochratoxin A and Aflatoxin B1 in italian commercial pasta

Cereals products for direct human consumption are rarely contaminated by moulds, unlike raw materials, which are often infected, either in the field or during storage. In this study, 27 samples of dried pasta characterised by size, packaging and marketing intended for young children consumption were collected and analysed by liquid chromatography (LC) and liquid chromatography– tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) for Deoxynivalenol (DON), Ochratoxin A (OTA) and Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) determination. The samples that showed the highest amounts of one of the mycotoxins were cooked for 10 min, digested with an in vitro gastrointestinal protocol and bioaccessibility values were calculated. Seven of the 27 samples exceeded from 120% to 225% the legal limit of 200 lg/kg for DON fixed for processed cereal-based baby foods by an European Regulation; all the collected samples were under the OTA legal limit (0.05 lg/kg) fixed by the European Regulation and no sample was contaminated by AFB1 over the instrumental limit of detection of 0.10 lg/kg. The mean value of gastric bioaccessibility verified for the DON resulted of 23.1%, whereas mean duodenal bioaccessibility was 12.1%.