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Natural occurrence of mycotoxins and mycoflora of argentinien popcorn

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Abstract

Argentina is the first popcorn exporting country worldwide. In 1997-1998 harvest season, 40,000 ha were sown with a production of 125,000 tons; 120,000 tons of this production were exported to more than 40 countries. The objectives of this study were to isolate and to identify the fungi present in this cereal and to assess the occurrence of mycotoxins in freshly harvested popcorn in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, in 1999. All popcorn samples showed fungal contamination. A total of 4,211 isolates were recovered from popcorn kernel samples. The prevalent species isolated wasFusarium verticillioides followed byPenicillium funiculosum, F. graminearum andAlternaria alternata. No aflatoxins, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol or ochratoxin A were detected in the 42 popcorn simples. All samples but one were contaminated with fumonisins (FB) in a range in ug/kg of (not detected-529) for FB1; (not detected-216) for FB2 and (not detected-103) for FB3. Fumonisin contamination levels in Argentinean popcorn were lower than observed in flint corn. No significant differences in fungal and fumonisins contamination levels were observed in the different tested hybrids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Comisión de Investigaciones Cientificas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    A. M. Pacin & S. L Resnik

  2. Centra de Investigatión en Micotoxinas — Universidad Nacional de Luján, Argentina

    A. M. Pacin

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Lomas de Zamora, Argentina

    R. T. Boca, R. Burak, A. M. Broccoli & J. C. de Souza

  4. Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    H. H. L. González

  5. Comisión Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina

    H. H. L. González

  6. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    S. L Resnik

  7. Departamento de IndustriasFCE y N, Universidad de Buenos Aires,Ciudad Universitaria, (C1428EHA), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    H. H. L. González

Authors
  1. A. M. Pacin
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  2. R. T. Boca
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  3. H. H. L. González
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  4. S. L Resnik
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  5. R. Burak
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  6. A. M. Broccoli
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  7. J. C. de Souza
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. H. L. González.

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Pacin, A.M., Boca, R.T., González, H.H.L. et al. Natural occurrence of mycotoxins and mycoflora of argentinien popcorn. Mycotox Res 18, 90–96 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02946701

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02946701

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