Dietary exposure to mycotoxins in the French infant total diet study

• Published in: Food and chemical toxicology Vol. 140; p. 111301
• Main Authors: Vin, Karine, Rivière, Gilles, Leconte, Stéphane, Cravedi, Jean-Pierre, Fremy, Jean Marc, Oswald, Isabelle P., Roudot, Alain-Claude, Vasseur, Paule, Jean, Julien, Hulin, Marion, Sirot, Véronique
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2020; Elsevier
• Subjects: Child, Preschool; Children; Chromatography, Liquid; Dietary Exposure; Food and Nutrition; Food Contamination; Food Contamination - analysis; France; Humans; Infant; Life Sciences; Limit of Detection; Mycotoxin; Mycotoxins; Mycotoxins - administration & dosage; Mycotoxins - analysis; Risk Assessment; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Total diet study; France; Children; Risk assessment; Total diet study; Mycotoxin; Dietary exposure
• ISSN: 0278-6915; 1873-6351
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2020.111301

The present study evaluated the exposure of children aged from one to 36 months to seven groups of mycotoxins, in the context of the infant French Total Diet Study (iTDS). Exposure was then compared to the health-based guidance values (HBGVs) for each mycotoxin. The value of the 90th percentile of exposure to nivalenol, patulin, fumonisins and zearalenone was less than 40% of the HBGV considered relevant for children. On the other hand, a risk could not be excluded for ochratoxin A and aflatoxins as exposure was close to the HBGV for ochratoxin A and the margin of exposure was much lower than the critical margin of 10,000 for aflatoxins. The HBGVs for toxins T2 and HT2, and for deoxynivalenol (DON) and its acetylated compounds were exceeded. Five percent to 10% of the children aged 5–12 months exceeded the HBGV considering the lower bound hypothesis for toxins T2 and HT2 and 7.5%–27% of the children aged 5 months and above exceeded the HBGV for DON. Consequently, the exposure of young children raises safety concerns for T2/HT2 and DON. Efforts should therefore be pursued to decrease their exposure to these molecules. •French children's exposure to ochratoxin A was close to the health-based guidance value.•The margin of exposure was much lower than the critical margin of 10,000 for aflatoxins.•The HBGV was exceeded for toxins T2 & HT2, deoxynivalenol & its acetylated compounds.•Exposure levels for nivalenol, patulin, fumonisins & zearalenone were safe.