Mycotoxin Occurrence in Feeds and Raw Materials in China: A Five-Year Investigation

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 63
• Main Authors: Hao, Wei, Guan, Shu, Li, Anping, Wang, Jinyong, An, Gang, Hofstetter, Ursula, Schatzmayr, Gerd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 11.01.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Aflatoxins; Aflatoxins - analysis; Animal Feed - analysis; Animals; By products; China; Commodities; Contaminants; Contamination; Corn; feed; Feeds; Food Contamination - analysis; Fumonisins; Fumonisins - toxicity; Gluten; Humans; Investigations; Livestock; Livestock industry; mycotoxin occurrence; Mycotoxins; Mycotoxins - analysis; new-season corn; Pollution; Rainfall; raw material; Raw materials; Seasons; Toxicity; Trichothecenes; Trichothecenes - toxicity; Variation; Vegetables; Weather; Zea mays; Zearalenone; Zearalenone - toxicity; China; feed; China; new-season corn; raw material; mycotoxin occurrence
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins15010063

Mycotoxins are ubiquitously present in feeds and raw materials and can exert toxicity on animals and humans. Therefore, mycotoxin occurrence should be monitored. We report here a multi-mycotoxin survey of feed samples in China from 2017 to 2021. Concentrations of aflatoxins, trichothecenes type B, fumonisins, and zearalenone were determined in a total of 9392 samples collected throughout China. Regional differences and year-to-year variation of mycotoxin occurrence were also assessed in new-season corn. Generally, mycotoxins were prevalent, while mycotoxin contamination in each feed commodity showed a distinct pattern, e.g., wheat and bran were typically affected by trichothecenes type B, peanut meals were highly susceptible to aflatoxins, and finished feeds exhibited a comparatively high prevalence of all mycotoxins. In new-season corn, trichothecenes type B and fumonisins were most prevalent, with positive rates of 84.04% and 87.16%, respectively. Regions exhibited different patterns of mycotoxin occurrence. The Anhui and Jiangsu provinces of East China exhibited a high prevalence and concentrations of aflatoxins with a positive rate and a positive average of 82.61% and 103.08 μg/kg, respectively. Central China obtained high fumonisins levels of 4707.84 μg/kg. Trichothecenes type B and zearalenone occurred more frequently in temperate regions of Northeast China, and their positive rates reached 94.99% and 55.67%, respectively. In these regions, mycotoxin concentrations in new-season corn exhibited pronounced year-to-year variations and this could be due to the unusual changes of rainfall or temperature during sensitive periods of corn growing. A large fraction of new-season corn samples contained multiple mycotoxins with two to three classes (75.42%), and the most frequently observed co-contaminants were the combination of trichothecenes type B and fumonisins (73.52%). Trichothecenes type B and zearalenone concentrations were highly positively correlated with a coefficient of 0.775. In conclusion, mycotoxins contamination and co-contamination of feeds are common. Mycotoxin contamination in new-season corn exhibited regional patterns and year-to-year variations, with climate and weather conditions as determinant factors.