[Incidence of Fusarium toxins in corn and milling byproducts]

The incidence of Fusarium toxins-trichothecenes and zearalenone in 100 samples of whole grains as well as their distribution in the by-products (arising of 32 whole corn samples) of the wet-grinding of corn were studied, the samples coming from the central and northern areas of the Santa Fe Province, Argentina. The analyses were carried out by thin-layer chromatography. A 33% of the samples was found to be contaminated by deoxynivalenol (DON), its amount ranging from traces to 1,200 micrograms/Kg; 15% of the samples contained T-2 toxin from 900 to 2,400 micrograms/Kg and only traces of zearalenone were detected in one sample. Only few samples (7%) included diacetoxiscirpenol (DAS), nivaleno (NIV) and neosolaniol (NS) and 7% of the samples evidenced contamination by more than one mycotoxin. It is worth noticing that DON was found to be contaminating only those by-products destined to human consumption. Conversely, T-2 toxin was found in by-products destined to both human and animal consumption.