Mycotoxins in preharvest, postharvest, and stored wheat grains collected from two climatic regions in Algeria

Abstract

Multi-mycotoxin analysis of 22 mycotoxins in 202 durum wheat samples collected in Algeria from 2019 to 2021 was performed by UHPLCMS/MS. Enniatins were present in 2 out of 45 wheat samples in the 2019 harvest, whereas in the harvest of 2020 37.6% of wheat samples were contaminated by ochratoxin A and/or beauvericin, deoxynivalenol (1076 µg/kg), fumonisin B1, enniatins, and zearalenone (most prevalent in 2020 and 2021 harvest). Mycotoxin contamination increased from 37.6% in 2020 to 55.2% in 2021 harvests. The most frequently observed mycotoxin co-occurrence was the combination of enniatin A1, enniatin B, and enniatin B1 (0.5-126 µg/kg) and DON (1307 µg/kg). AFB1 (0.4-2.6 µg/kg) was found in only one sample collected from the continental region. These results pointed to the necessity of frequent and regular wheat quality controls in order to better evaluate the risk regarding the Algerian population.