Natural occurrence of deoxynivalenol in wheat from Paraná State, Brazil and estimated daily intake by wheat products.

The occurrence of deoxynivalenol (DON) was evaluated in 113 wheat samples from the northern and central/southwestern regions of Paraná State, Brazil during the 2008 and 2009 growing seasons, and this rate of occurrence was used to estimate the DON dietary exposure. The DON determination was carried out by an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. DON was detected in 66.4% samples at levels ranging from 206.3 to 4732.3 μg/kg (mean 1894.9 μg/kg). The estimated daily intake (EDI) of DON through bread and pasta was evaluated in the inhabitants of Londrina City in northern Paraná State, Brazil. The average intake of these inhabitants was 0.79 μg/kg body weight (b.w.) for bread and 0.35 μg/kg b.w. for pasta. The total EDI was 1.13 μg/kg, which is above the Provisional Tolerable Daily Maximum Intake (PTDMI) of 1 μg/kg b.w. To our knowledge, this is the first report on natural DON occurrence in wheat and DON dietary exposure estimation from Paraná, Brazil.