Dietary exposure to mycotoxins for children aged 3-11 years from a Dutch Total Diet Study

In 2022, a total diet study was conducted in the Netherlands in which mycotoxins were analysed in foods and beverages consumed by children aged 3-11 years. These mycotoxins were aflatoxins, Alternaria toxins, beauvericin, citrinin, 4,15-diacetoxyscirpenol, enniatins, ergot alkaloids, fumonisins, moniliformin, mycophenolic acid, ochratoxin A, penicillic acid, roquefortine C, sterigmatocystin, trichothecenes, and zearalenone. Long-term exposure was calculated by combining concentrations in foods and beverages with their consumed amounts. Analysed foods and beverages with a concentration below the limit of quantification that could contain the mycotoxin were assigned a concentration equal to zero or this limit value. The 95th percentiles of long-term exposure were compared with a toxicological reference value or a margin of exposure was calculated. Exposure to aflatoxins, alternariol, alternariol monomethyl ether, ochratoxin A and T-2/HT-2 sum showed that a health concern cannot be excluded. Foods that contributed most to the exposure to these mycotoxins were bread, breakfast cereals, chocolates, fruit juices, oils and fats, nuts and tomatoes and tomato products.