Mycotoxins in organic and conventional cereals and derived products from Europe: A review

Abstract

Contrasted results are obtained when comparing contamination levels and frequencies of Fusarium mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol, HT-2 toxin, T-2 toxin, 3-acetyl-DON, zearalenone, fumonisins) as well as Aspergillus and Penicillium mycotoxins (aflatoxins, ochratoxin A) in cereals and cereal-based products obtained using the organic and conventional route of production. Actually, there is no clear-cut trend in favour of organic cereals or in favour of their conventional counterparts. In contrast to older studies, most of the recent ones lead to the identification of slight differences between the two types of products. In addition, the high variation in mycotoxin content between the organic and conventional modes of production (even within the same year) makes comparison less obvious and calls for the use of quite powerful statistical tools, a call which is not always met inn the published studies. Hence, the interpretation of results requires a critical approach. The mycotoxin exposure assessment for consumers of organic and conventional cereal-based products is mainly carried out using data gathered from raw cereals. As a consequence the exposure levels are overestimated because cereal processing is not taken into account. Here also it was not possible to identify a clear trend in favour of either organic or conventional foodstuffs. However, it seems interesting to monitor both production systems because uncontrolled factors can sometimes play an important role and because production techniques and farmers' skills have highly improved.