Ozonation of agri-food products for reducing mycotoxin contamination: challenges in grains and particulates...

This study evaluated differences in the efficiency of ozonation process to reduce the natural contamination of two mycotoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN), in wheat grains and particulate products. Three different products were used, each one representing a different structure and mycotoxin distribution: (1) wheat grains, with natural mycotoxin distribution inside and among the grains; (2) homemade pellets, with homogenous mycotoxin distribution; (3) ground homemade pellets, with homogeneous mycotoxin distribution, and smaller particles. The ozonation of naturally contaminated wheat grains did not reduce the concentrations of DON and ZEN. When the variability of contamination among replicates was reduced by the production of homemade pellets showed, the ozonation provides a reduction of 14% of ZEN concentration. Reducing the size of particles by grinding the homemade pellets, a reduction of DON (11%) and ZEN (31%) was observed, which was evidenced by the higher ozone consumption during the process. Therefore, some limitations of ozonation of grains and particulate products, such as particle dimensions and distribution of natural contamination of mycotoxins affect the degradation of DON and ZEN under real conditions. Because of this, further studies to evaluate the effectiveness of ozonation should also be performed in samples naturally contaminated to produce robustness results.