Browsing by Author "Berthiller, Franz"

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    Impact of environmental conditions on the concentrations of trichothecenes, their glucosides, and emerging fusarium toxins in naturally contaminated, irradiated, and fusarium iangsethiae inoculated oats
    (MDPI, 2024-04-01) Oluwakayode, Abimbola; Greer, Brett; Meneely, Julie; Berthiller, Franz; Krska, Rudolf; Medina, Angel
    Trichothecenes produced by Fusarium species are commonly detected in oats. However, the ratios of the concentrations of free trichothecenes and their conjugates and how they are impacted by different interacting environmental conditions are not well documented. This study aims to examine the effect of water activity (0.95 and 0.98 aw) and temperature (20 and 25 °C) stress on the production of T-2 and HT-2 toxins, deoxynivalenol and their conjugates, as well as diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS). Multiple mycotoxins were detected using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry from 64 contaminated oat samples. The highest concentrations of HT-2-glucoside (HT-2-Glc) were observed at 0.98 aw and 20 °C, and were higher than other type A trichothecenes in the natural oats’ treatments. However, no statistical differences were found between the mean concentrations of HT-2-Glc and HT-2 toxins in all storage conditions analysed. DAS concentrations were generally low and highest at 0.95 aw and 20 °C, while deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside levels were highest at 0.98 aw and 20 °C in the naturally contaminated oats. Emerging mycotoxins such as beauvericin, moniliformin, and enniatins mostly increased with a rise in water activity and temperature in the naturally contaminated oats treatment. This study reinforces the importance of storage aw and temperature conditions in the high risk of free and modified toxin contamination of small cereal grains.
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    International interlaboratory study to normalize liquid chromatography-based mycotoxin retention times through implementation of a retention index system
    (Elsevier, 2025-03-29) Kelman, Megan J.; Renaud, Justin B.; McCarron, Pearse; Hoogstra, Shawn; Chow, Willis; Wang, Jian; Varga, Liz; Patriarca, Andrea; Medina, Angel; Visintin, Lia; Nguyen, Truong Nhat; De Boevre, Marthe; De Saeger, Sarah; Karanghat, Vasudevan; Vuckovic, Dajana; McMullin, David R.; Dall'Asta, Chiara; Ayeni, Kolawole I.; Warth, Benedikt; Huang, Mei; Tittlemier, Sheryl A.; Mats, Lili; Cao, Rong; Sulyok, Michael; Xu, Kangkang; Berthiller, Franz; Kuhn, Michael; Cramer, Benedikt; Ciasca, Biancamaria; Lattanzio, Veronica M. T.; De Baere, Siegrid; Croubels, Siska; DesRochers, Natasha; Sura, Srinivas; Bates, Jennifer; Wright, Elliott James; Thapa, Indira; Blackwell, Barbara A.; Zhang, Kai; Wong, Jon W.; Burns, Laura; Borts, David J.; Sumarah, Mark W.
    Monitoring for mycotoxins in food or feed matrices is necessary to ensure the safety and security of global food systems. Due to a lack of standardized methods and individual laboratory priorities, most institutions have developed their own methods for mycotoxin determinations. Given the diversity of mycotoxin chemical structures and physicochemical properties, searching databases, and comparing data between institutions is complicated. We previously introduced incorporating a retention index (RI) system into liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based mycotoxin determinations. To validate this concept, we designed an interlaboratory study where each participating laboratory was sent N-alkylpyridinium-3-sulfonates (NAPS) RI standards, and 36 mycotoxin standards for analysis using their pre-optimized LC-MS methods. Data from 44 analytical methods were submitted from 24 laboratories representing various manufacturer platforms, LC columns, and mobile phase compositions. Mycotoxin retention times (tR) were converted to RI values based on their elution relative to the NAPS standards. Trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol) showed tR consistency (± 20–50 RI units, 1–5 % median RI) regardless of mobile phase or type of chromatography column in this study. For the remaining mycotoxins tested, the RI values were strongly impacted by the mobile phase composition and column chemistry. The ability to predict tR was evaluated based on the median RI mycotoxin values and the NAPS tR. These values were corrected using Tanimoto coefficients to investigate whether structurally similar compounds could be used as anchors to further improve accuracy. This study demonstrated the power of employing an RI system for mycotoxin determinations, further enhancing the confidence of identifications.
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    Real-time CO2 production monitoring in stored oats as an indicator of type A trichothecenes and ochratoxin A contamination under simulated environmental conditions
    (MDPI, 2025-03-11) Oluwakayode, Abimbola; Sulyok, Michael; Berthiller, Franz; Verheecke-Vaessen, Carol; Krska, Rudolf; Medina, Angel
    Grain industries are interested in an integrated approach to in-silo grain quality and safety management using carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement with temperature and moisture monitoring. Our study investigates if CO2 production could predict mycotoxin production (T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, its glucoside, and ochratoxin A (OTA)) and identify storage conditions exceeding legislative limits in stored oats for the first time. The influence of water activity (aw) levels (0.70–0.95 aw), temperature (15 and 20 °C), and storage duration on (a) Fusarium populations, (b) CO2 respiration rates (RRs), and (c) mycotoxin concentrations in stored oats was examined. One hundred and twenty samples were analysed for multiple mycotoxins by LC-MS/MS. Substantial differences were found in the RRs of oats at ≥0.90 aw at both temperatures. A moderate positive correlation between CO2 and mycotoxins was noticed and mycotoxins exceeded their limits at ≥0.90 aw (22% moisture content) when RR ≥ 25 µg CO2 kg−1 h−1. This knowledge forms the basis for developing decision support systems for improving oats’ storage management.