Risk assessment of chronic dietary exposure to the conjugated mycotoxin deoxynivalenol-3-β-glucoside in the Dutch population

• Published in: World mycotoxin journal Vol. 8; no. 5; pp. 561 - 572
• Main Authors: Janssen, E.M, Sprong, R.C, Wester, P.W, De Boevre, M, Mengelers, M.J.B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Netherlands Brill | Wageningen Academic 01.01.2015; Wageningen Academic Publishers
• Subjects: Deoxynivalenol; Exposure assessment; Grain; Masked mycotoxin; Modified mycotoxin; RESEARCH ARTICLE; deoxynivalenol; exposure assessment; grain; masked mycotoxin; modified mycotoxin
• ISSN: 1875-0710; 1875-0796
• DOI: 10.3920/WMJ2014.1876

In this study, a risk assessment of dietary exposure to the conjugated mycotoxin deoxynivalenol-3-β-glucoside (DON-3G) in the Dutch population was conducted. Data on DON-3G levels in food products available in the Netherlands are scarce. Therefore, data on co-occurring levels of DON-3G and deoxynivalenol (DON), its parent compound, were used to estimate the DON-3G/DON ratio for several food product categories. This resulted in a DON-3G/DON ratio of 0.2 (90% confidence interval (CI): 0.04-0.9) in grains & grain-milling products, 0.3 (90% CI: 0.03-2.8) in grain-based products and 0.8 (90% CI: 0.4-1.8) in beer. These ratios were applied to the Dutch monitoring data of DON to estimate the DON-3G concentrations in food products available in the Netherlands. DON and DON-3G concentrations were combined with food consumption data of two Dutch National Food Consumption Surveys to assess chronic exposure in young children (2-6 years), children (7-16 years) and adults (17-69 years) using the Monte Carlo Risk Assessment program. The chronic exposure levels of DON, DON-3G and the sum of both compounds (DON+DON-3G) were compared to the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 1 μg/kg body weight/day which is based on the most critical effect of DON, namely decreased body weight gain. The assumption was made that DON-3G is deconjugated and then fully absorbed as DON in the gastro-intestinal tract. Exposure (P97.5) of the population aged 7-16 years and 17-69 years to DON or DON-3G separately, did not exceed the TDI. However, exposure to upper bound levels of DON+DON-3G (i.e. worst-case scenario) in the same age categories (P97.5) exceeded the TDI with a maximum factor of 1.3. Exposure (P97.5) of the 2-6 year-olds to DON was close to the TDI. Within this group, exposure (P97.5) to upper bound levels of DON+DON-3G exceeded the TDI with not more than a factor 2.