Mycotoxins in herbal teas marketed in Latvia and dietary exposure assessment

ABSTRACT

The occurrence of 12 mycotoxins has been analysed by liquid chromatography – time of flight mass spectrometry in the batch of 60 herbal teas purchased from drugstores in Latvia. Among the dry tea samples, 90% were positive for one to eight mycotoxins. Enniatin B and deoxynivalenol (DON) were the most frequently detected mycotoxins in 55% and 45% of the samples, respectively. DON reached the highest level, from 129 µg kg⁻¹ in herbal blend to 5,463 µg kg⁻¹ in wormwood tea. Ochratoxin A (OTA) and aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) were found in 10% and 20% of the samples at the concentrations ranged between 2.99–30.3 µg kg⁻¹ and 3.40–23.7 µg kg⁻¹. Studies of the tea infusion process indicated that 32–100% of DON and zearalenone present in dry teas were extracted into the infusions. Dietary exposure assessment was performed, using the determined mycotoxin levels and the available consumption data.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-mycotoxin analysis
• herbal teas
• tea infusions
• HPLC-TOF-MS
• HPLC-MS/MS
• dietary exposure assessment

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the European Regional Development Fund within the Project activity 1.1.1.2 “Post-doctoral Research Aid” (Project No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/1/16/219).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund [Project No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/1/16/219].