The efficacy of cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) with ambient air as working gas for the degradation of selected mycotoxins was studied. Deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, enniatins, fumonisin B1, and T2 toxin produced by Fusarium spp., sterigmatocystin produced by Aspergillus spp. and AAL toxin produced by Alternaria alternata were used. The kinetics of the decay of mycotoxins exposed to plasma discharge was monitored. All pure mycotoxins exposed to CAPP were degraded almost completely within 60 s. Degradation rates varied with mycotoxin structure: fumonisin B1 and structurally related AAL toxin were degraded most rapidly while sterigmatocystin exhibited the highest resistance to degradation. As compared to pure compounds, the degradation rates of mycotoxins embedded in extracts of fungal cultures on rice were reduced to a varying extent. Our results show that CAPP efficiently degrades pure mycotoxins, the degradation rates vary with mycotoxin structure, and the presence of matrix slows down yet does not prevent the degradation. CAPP appears promising for the decontamination of food commodities with mycotoxins confined to or enriched on surfaces such as cereal grains. Full article

Solid bar microextraction (SBME), followed by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD), for the quantification of ochratoxin A in wheat and maize was developed. Ground wheat and maize grains were extracted with acetonitrile-water-acetic acid (79:20:1, v/v/v), followed by defatting with cyclohexane, and subjected to SBME-LC-FLD analysis. SBME devices were constructed by packing 2 mg sorbent (C18) into porous polypropylene micro-tubes (2.5 cm length, 600 μm i.d., and 0.2 μm pore size). SBME devices were conditioned with methanol and placed into 5 mL stirred sample solutions for 70 min. After extraction, OTA was desorbed into 200 μL of methanol for 15 min, the solution was removed in vacuum, the residue was dissolved in 50 μL of methanol-water (1:1, v/v) and ochratoxin A content was determined by HPLC-FLD. Under optimized extraction conditions, the limit of detection of 0.9 μg·kg⁻¹ and 2.5 μg·kg⁻¹ and the precision of 3.4% and 5.0% over a concentration range of 1 to 100 μg·kg⁻¹ in wheat and maize flour, respectively, were obtained. Full article

Wheat is one of the main crops in Mediterranean countries, and its cultivation has an important role in the Syrian economy. In Syria, Fusarium head blight (FHB) has not been reported so far. Mycological analysis of 48 samples of wheat kernels collected from cultivation areas with different climatic conditions were performed in 2009 and 2010. Fungal isolates were identified at the genus level morphologically; Fusarium species were characterized morphologically and by species-specific PCR. The most frequent fungal genera found were Alternaria spp. and Cladosporium spp., with frequencies of 24.7% and 8.1%, respectively, while the frequency of Fusarium spp. was 1.5% of kernels. Most frequent Fusarium species were F. tricinctum (30% of all Fusarium isolates), F. culmorum (18%), F. equiseti (14%) and F. graminearum (13%). The mycotoxin production potential of selected Fusarium isolates was assessed by HPLC-MS analysis of rice cultures; chemotyping by PCR was carried out for comparison. All six F. graminearum strains tested produced small amounts (<3 mg/kg) of nivalenol (NIV). All ten F. culmorum strains tested produced large amounts of trichothecenes (>100 mg/kg); four strains produced NIV and six strains produced deoxynivalenol (DON) and 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3Ac-DON). PCR chemotyping lead to an oversimplified picture, because all 3Ac-DON chemotype strains produced more DON than 3Ac-DON; furthermore, the strongest NIV producers produced significant amounts of DON. All tested strains of F. culmorum, F. graminearum, F. pseudograminearum (two strains) and most F. equiseti strains (five of six strains) produced zearalenone. Grains of durum wheat were more frequently colonized by Fusarium spp. than grains of soft wheat. Incidence of Fusarium spp. in irrigated fields was higher than in rainfed fields. The incidence of Fusarium strains producing mycotoxins raises concerns about the risk of Fusarium head blight to Syria and its consequences for public health. Full article

Fusarium graminearum Schwabe (Gibberella zeae Schwein. Petch.) and F. culmorum W.G. Smith are major mycotoxin producers in small-grain cereals afflicted with Fusarium head blight (FHB). Real-time PCR (qPCR) is the method of choice for species-specific, quantitative estimation of fungal biomass in plant tissue. We demonstrated that increasing the amount of plant material used for DNA extraction to 0.5-1.0 g considerably reduced sampling error and improved the reproducibility of DNA yield. The costs of DNA extraction at different scales and with different methods (commercial kits versus cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-based protocol) and qPCR systems (doubly labeled hybridization probes versus SYBR Green) were compared. A cost-effective protocol for the quantification of F. graminearum and F. culmorum DNA in wheat grain and maize stalk debris based on DNA extraction from 0.5-1.0 g material and real-time PCR with SYBR Green fluorescence detection was developed. Full article