2005, Volume IX, Issue 2Recent Publications & BooksReports by the Scientific Cooperation (SCOOP) task 3.2.10 experts, titled “Collection of Occurrence Data of Fusarium Toxins in Food and Assessment of Dietary Intake by the Population of EU Member States,” have been issued. The reports contain information on trichothecenes, zearalenone, and fumonisins based on data gathered from March 2002 to January 2003.Most of trichothecene data refer to deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, T-2 toxin, and HT-2 toxin.Among cereals, corn showed the highest level of trichothecene contamination.Wheat and wheat products represented the major source of intake for the four trichothecenes. The mean intakes for deoxynivalenol were below the tolerable daily intake (TDI); however, for the young children the mean intakes were sometimes very close to the TDI. For nivalenol, the mean and high level intakes were far below the TDI. Among the adult population of the European Union,the average daily intake of zearalenone was lower than the TDI.Because of the limited consumption data and the limited number of commodities tested, as well as the small number of analyses per commodity,however, the results reflected uncertainties.Although the highest intake of zearalenone came from wheat, a greater incidence and higher levels of zearalenone contamination were found in corn.Greater consumption of wheat products may account for this result. With respect to fumonisins, cereals represented the major source of intake and most of the intakes for all population groups were below the TDI.However, the small number of contributing food matrices provided by all countries precluded a sound comparison of the total dietary intakewith TDI. Further details are available at the following website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/food/chemicalsafety/contaminants/fusarium_en.htm |