Occurrence of fumonisins B₁ and B₂ in asparagus from Shandong province, P.R. China

Abstract

Thirty samples of asparagus spears were collected from the fields in Shandong province, China, in July 2004, and were analysed for the occurrence of fumonisins B₁ and B₂ (FB₁ and FB₂) by HPLC coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Twenty-four samples (80%) contained fumonisins, ranging from 24 to 670 ng g⁻¹ (average 123 ng g⁻¹) and 17 to 138 ng g⁻¹(average 35 ng g⁻¹) for FB₁ and FB₂, respectively. The total amount of fumonisins (FB₁ and FB₂) in all samples ranged from 47 to 714 ng g⁻¹ (average 158 ng g⁻¹) (based on dry weight). This is the first report on the natural occurrence of FB₁ and FB₂ in asparagus spears in China.

Keywords:

• Fumonisins
• asparagus
• China
• occurrence

Acknowledgement

Research (GZ051-7(151)) was supported by the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion.