Natural occurrence of fumonisin B₂ in red wine from Italy

Abstract

The potential risk of exposure to fumonisin B₂ (FB₂) in the grape-wine chain has recently been revealed after a report of Aspergillus niger in grapes and its ability to produce FB₂ and FB₄. The occurrence of these two fumonisins in wine was investigated by LC/MS/MS in 51 market samples (45 red, five white and one rosé wine) produced in various Italian regions. Nine samples of red wine were found to be contaminated by fumonisin B₂ at levels ranging from 0.4 to 2.4 ng/ml, while FB₄ was not detected in any of the tested samples. This is the first report on the natural occurrence of FB₂ in wine, indicating that, although at low levels, there is a potential risk of FB₂ exposure for the wine-consumer.

Keywords:

• fumonisins
• Aspergillus species
• wine
• mycotoxins
• food safety

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by EC KBBE-2007-222690-2 MYCORED. The authors thank Giuseppe Cozzi for his valuable technical assistance and Mark Busman (NCAUR, Peoria, IL, USA) for the FB₄ standard.