Mycotoxin analysis of industrial beers from Brazil: The influence of fumonisin B1 and deoxynivalenol in beer quality

- Deoxynivalenol was not detected in any of the industrial beer samples.
- High levels of fumonisin B1 were found in 49% of the samples.
- Fumonisin B1 contamination was possibly due to the use of adjuncts.
- Regulation for mycotoxins in beer is needed.

Worldwide, barley is the main source of carbohydrate in the brewing process. However, corn is often used as an adjunct to improve and accelerate the fermentation process. Considering that, these two substrates are susceptible to fungal contamination as well as mycotoxins. The objective of the current study is to determine the incidence of the mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) in industrial beers.The method applied for mycotoxin analyses included high performance liquid chromatography. The mean levels for recovery experiments were 89.6% for DON and 93.3% for FB1. DON was not detected in any of the analyzed samples whereas FB1 was found in 49% of the 114 samples. The current survey demonstrated levels of FB1 contamination in industrial beer, possibly due to the addition of contaminated adjuncts. It is necessary to establish maximum levels of mycotoxins in beer in Brazil and other countries in order to reduce health risks.