Natural occurrence of mycotoxins in cereals and spices commercialized in Morocco

Sixty samples of cereals (20 of corn, 20 of barley, and 20 of wheat) and 55 samples of spices (14 of paprika, 12 of ginger, 14 of cumin, and 15 of pepper) purchased from popular markets of Rabat and Salé in Morocco were analyzed for mycotoxins. Cereals samples were all analyzed for ochratoxin A (OTA). The average levels of contamination were 1.08, 0.42, and 0.17 μg/kg for corn, wheat, and barley, respectively. Samples of corn were also analyzed for zearalenone (ZEA) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) the average contaminations were 14 and 1930 μg/kg, respectively. Co-occurrence of OTA, FB1, and ZEA was also checked. Spices samples were analyzed only for aflatoxins (AFs) and the average contaminations found for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) were 0.09, 0.63, 2.88 and 0.03 μg/kg for black pepper, ginger, red paprika and cumin, respectively. The higher level of contamination was found in red paprika (9.68 μg/kg). The present report is the first one ever drafted on the natural co-occurrence of OTA, FB1 and ZEA in cereals and on the occurrence of AFs in spices from Morocco. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.