Humans can be exposed to mycotoxins through the food chain. Mycotoxins are mainly found as contaminants in food and could be subsequently excreted via biological fluids such as urine or human breast milk in native or metabolised form. Since breast milk is usually supposed as the only food for new-borns, the occurrence of mycotoxins in thirty-five human milk samples was evaluated by a newly developed method based on QuEChERS extraction and UHPLC-HRMS detection. The method described here allows the detection of target mycotoxins in order to determine the quality of this initial feeding. The method has been fully validated, with recoveries ranging from 64% to 93% and relative standard deviations (RSD, %) being lower than 20%. Using the method described, non-metabolised mycotoxins such as ZEA, NEO, NIV, ENA, ENA1, ENB, ENB1 and metabolites, such as ZEA metabolites, HT-2, DOM and T-2 triol were detected in human milk samples. Results obtained help to estimate the exposure of mothers and infants to mycotoxins. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first work describing the simultaneous detection, quantification and screening of mycotoxins and their metabolites in human mature milk.

Departament de Medicina Preventiva Facultat de Farmàcia Universitat de València Av Vicent Andrés Estellés s n 46100 Burjassot Spain

Departament de Medicina Preventiva Facultat de Farmàcia Universitat de València Av Vicent Andrés Estellés s n 46100 Burjassot Spain; Institute of Chemical Technology Department of Food Analysis and Nutrition Technická 5 166 28 Prague 6 Prague Czech Republic

Public Health Laboratory of Valencia 21 Avinguda Catalunya 46020 València Spain; Food Safety Research Area Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research in the Valencian Region FISABIO Public Health 21 Avinguda Catalunya 46020 València Spain

Public Health Laboratory of Valencia 21 Avinguda Catalunya 46020 València Spain; Food Safety Research Area Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research in the Valencian Region FISABIO Public Health 21 Avinguda Catalunya 46020 València Spain; Analytical Chemistry Department Universitat de Valencia Edifici Jeroni Muñoz 50 Dr Moliner 46100 Burjassot Spain

Thermo Fisher Scientific Avenue du Quebec 16 Silic 765 Villebon sur Yvette 91963 Courtaboeuf France

Thermo Fisher Scientific Slunečná 27 100 00 Prague 10 Czech Republic

References provided by Crossref.org

Feedborne Mycotoxins Beauvericin and Enniatins and Livestock Animals