Profile of major and emerging mycotoxins in sesame and soybean grains in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria

The spectrum of major and emerging mycotoxins in sesame and soybean grains from the six zones of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria was determined using Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). A total of 47 samples (24 sesame and 23 soybean were collected from farmers’ stores. Seven regulated mycotoxins in sesame and five in soybean including aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) were detected. However, concentrations were generally lower than regulatory limits set in the EU for raw grains with the exception of ochratoxin A (OTA) exhibiting a maximum concentration level of 23.1 µg kg-1 in one of the soybean samples. This is the first report concerning the contamination of sesame and soybean in Abuja, FCT-Nigeria with the emerging mycotoxins addressed by recent European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinion papers totalling 10 in number. These include beauvericin (BEA), moniliformin (MON), sterigmatocystin (STE), altertoxin-I (ATX-I), alternariol (AOH), alternariol methylether (AME) though at relatively low µg kg-1 range. This preliminary data indicate that sesame and soybean might be relatively safe commodities in view of the profile of mycotoxins. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1307184