The Safety Assessment of Aflatoxins and Deoxynivalenol in Cereals and Their Products

This study was carried out to assess the safety of cereals and their products (20 species, 205 sam- ples) distributed in Gyeonggi province by analyzing contamination levels such as exposure frequency of Aflatoxins and Deoxynivalenol (DON). Aflatoxins were detected in 16 (8%) samples in total with a range of 0.01~27.88 µg/kg, including 3 of 9 bake flour (33%), 2 of 6 dried corn (33%), 3 of 12 frying flour (25%) and 2 of 11 sorghum (18%). DON was found in 56 (27%) samples including 11 of 13 adlay (85%), 6 of 8 wheat (75%), 6 of 10 processed corn for popcorn (60%), 6 of 11 sorghum (55%) and 7 of 16 barley (44%) with a range of 2.2~754.4 µg/kg. In particular, both Aflatoxins and DON were detected in 8 samples (2 millet, 2 wheat, 1 sorghum, 1 adlay, 1 dried corn, 1 bake flour) simultaneously. As a result of this study, we found that an adult is exposed to Aflatoxins of 0.80 (×) 10 �3 µg/kg b.w./ day and DON of 0.18 µg/kg b.w./day. The quantity of exposure to DON amounted to 18.5 percentage level compared with PMTDI 1 µg/kg b.w./day suggested on JECFA, therefore we can assess that the possibility of health risks by intake cereals distributed in Gyeonggi province is low. However the concentration of Aflatoxins in one dried corn was 27.88 µg/kg which was over the maximum residue limits (MRL) suggested on internal and external level, the moni- toring about mycotoxin should be conducted on continuously.