[Deoxynivalenol in food].

Within a joint research project entitled "Analysis and occurrence of importantFusarium toxins (deoxynivalenol and zearalenone) and dietary intake of these toxins by the German consumer", supported by the German Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL), representative analytical data are generated on the contamination level of foods withFusarium mycotoxins. This paper gives a comprehensive summary concerning the contamination of foods from the German market with deoxynivalenol (DON) in the period from August 2001 to April 2004. More than 4700 food samples (mostly cereals and cereal-containing foods) were purchased from food shops in Germany and analysed for DON by enzyme immunoassay, HPLC, and LC-MS/MS, respectively. All analytical methods were validated through intra- and interlaboratory studies and gave mean recoveries of >80% for each matrix. Although DON was detected with high frequency in all cerealcontaining samples, the mean and median levels were in most products well below the recently established maximum permitted limits in Germany.