Contamination and dietary exposure assessment of Alternaria toxins in commercially available wheat products sold in Anhui Province

ObjectiveTo investigate the contamination of five mycotoxins produced by Alternaria， including tenuazonic acid （TeA）， tentoxin （TEN）， alternariol monomethyl ether （AME）， altenuene （ALT） and alternariol （AOH）， in commercially available flour， noodles， bread and steamed buns sold to determine the dietary exposure risk.MethodsThis study collected a total of 245 Anhui Province central， north and northwest region flour-based products samples in 2021 and 2022， and a QuEChERS-UPLC-MS/MS method was used to detect the concentration of TeA， TEN， AME， ALT and AOH.ResultsThe detection rates of TEN and TeA in the samples were 80.4% and 98.0%， while AME， AOH， and their concentration ranges were 0.34-1.74 μg/kg and 1.17-85.68 μg/kg， ALT were not detected （<LOD）. There were significant differences in the levels of five alternaria toxins （ATs） in flour-based products from different samples （flour， noodles， bread， and steamed buns sold） and regions （northern Anhui， central Anhui， northwestern Anhui）. Moreover， there was a significant correlation between TEN and TeA in flour， noodles， and bread.ConclusionThe daily exposure doses of TeA in flour products for adult males， adult females， boys and girls were 20.6、23.9、27.9 and 29.2 ng/（kg·BW/d）， respectively， while the daily exposure doses of TEN were 3.1、3.5、4.1 and 4.3 ng/（kg·BW/d）， the levels of all five ATs were below the threshold of toxicological concern values， the risk of dietary exposure is relatively low.