Study of the influence of the milling process on the distribution of deoxynivalenol content from the caryopsis to cooked pasta

The influence of the durum wheat milling process (pre-cleaning, cleaning, hulling, different fineness milling steps) on the deoxynivalenol (DON) content was evaluated, by establishing its contamination distributed in the different products and byproducts (bran, shorts, flour, semolina, and pasta). In order to include also the DON distribution within the pasta manufacturing process, four samples of semolina were worked to obtain four different lots of dried pasta. The results obtained in this study show that, with respect to wheat grain (100%), a reduction of DON contamination of 30%, 66% and 63% in clean wheat, peeled wheat and semolina was observed respectively. On the other hand, an increase of DON contamination was observed in the byproducts, especially in the foliage waste and in the wheat bran fractions, which are intended for feed production. However, at the present time, there is no legal limit set for DON content in feed. As far as the second-stage processing is concerned, with respect to semolina (100%), the observed DON reduction in dry and cooked pasta was estimated 8% and 41% respectively. The overall process, from wheat grain to cooked pasta, leads to a mean DON contamination decrease of 78%. The outputs of this study, confirming the trend of previous works, are of crucial importance in order to early evaluate the safety of the finished products, consistently with their final destination, once the contamination of the raw material is established.

► DON distribution along the durum wheat milling process focused to the fractions with a concentration/reduction of the toxin. ► The reduction of DON was found proportionally consistent with the three dehulling steps. ► The reduction of DON was found proportionally consistent with the three dehulling steps. ► The results of the study were obtained by the effect of different industrial processing plants. ► The legal limits set by the European Union for durum wheat and pasta were found coherent each other.