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Cereal food products (n=333) were purchased in retail stores from Germany in 2001 and analysed for deoxynivalenol (DON), either by enzyme immunoassay or by HPLC after immunoaffinity chromatographic cleanup. Detection limits were dependent of the sample matrix and varied from 20-100 μg/kg. The overall DON incidence was 53%, with mean and median levels for positives of 251 μg/kg and 142 μg/kg, respectively. The contamination with DON (mean/median value, μg/kg) as found for bread (90/87), wheat flour (161/124), and noodles (472/297) indicate that the levels of DON in cereal foods were significant in view of the tolerable daily intake (1 μg/kg body weight) as established by the European Union scientific committee on food.