Occurrence of fumonisin B-1 and B-2 in corn-based foodstuffs in Taiwan market

Corn-based human foodstuffs purchased in Taiwan were analyzed for fumonisin B-1 (FB1) and fumonisin B-2 (FB2) using high-performance liquid chromatography. Fifty-two (33.9%) and 32 (20.9%) of 153 samples were found to contain FB1 (73-2395 ng/g) and FB2 (120-715 ng/g), respectively. The highest frequency of detection and also the highest FB 1 concentrations were found in sweetcorn (50%, 1089 ng/g) and cornflour (50%, 608 ng/g), followed by corn snacks (33.3%, 2395 ng/g), miscellaneous corn products (33.3%, 73 ng/g), popcorn (31.8%, 1003 ng/g) and cornflakes (23.5%, 1281 ng/g). 16 corn snacks (=approximately 20.5% of the samples) had an average FB1 and FB2 content of 456 and 145 ng/g, respectively, while six sweetcorn (=25%) samples were contaminated with an average of 400 ng/g of FB1 and 65 ng/g of FB2. Of the 22 pop-corn samples examined, 7 had an average of 347 ng/g and 116 ng/g of FB1 and FB2, respectively. During an analysis of the distribution pattern for the combined fumonisin levels of FB1 and FB2, it became apparent that more than 69% of tested samples had fumonisin concentrations below 100 ng/g, while 11.1% (or 17 samples) contained in excess of 600 ng toxins per g. These results clearly illustrated that commercially available corn-based foodstuffs for human consumption in Taiwan are frequently contaminated with FB1 and FB2.