FUMONISIN CONTAMINATION OF COMMERCIAL CORN-BASED HUMAN FOODSTUFFS

Corn-based human foodstuffs from retail outlets in five countries were analyzed for fumonisin B1 (FB1) and fumonisin B2 (FB2). The highest mean concentrations occurred in two Egyptian samples (2380 ng/g FB1 and 595 ng/g FB2). Only one of four Peruvian samples contained 660 ng/g FB1 and 68 ng/g FB2, while only one of two Canadian samples contained a detectable level of FB1. The 16 cornmeal (CM) and 10 corn grits (CG) products from the United States contained mean concentrations of 1048 ng/g FB1 and 298 ng/g FB2 and 601 ng/g FB1 and 375 ng/g FB2, respectively, while the mean concentrations in 52 CM and 18 CG samples from South Africa were 138 ng/g FB1 and 83 ng/g FB2 and 125 ng/g FB1 and 85 ng/g FB2, respectively. Only 1 of 10 cornflakes/lime-treated samples contained a low level of FB1. Of several samples obtained from a high esophageal cancer (EC) risk area in the United States 7/7 contained FB1 (105-1915 ng/g) and 6/7 FB2 (70-460 ng/g).