Determination of mycotoxins in fruit berry by-products using QuEChERS extraction method

•Determination of AFs, OTA and Alternaria toxins in berry by-products, jam and juice from Valencia (on 2015).•A validated analytical methodology suggested could be used to analyze jam and juice.•Only 53% of berries juice revealed the presence of AFs, AOH and AME.•43% of positive samples showed co-occurrence of at least two mycotoxins.

Fruit berries by-products are mainly elaborated with berry but most of them mixed with other fruits, grapes, plums or apples. These present favourable properties for the growth of a great range of mycotoxins mould producers. Consequently, alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tentoxin (TEN), aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) and ochratoxin A (OTA) are the main mycotoxins that should be present in berries by-products. To establish a reliable analytical method of these mycotoxins on two fruit berries by-products (jam and juice), four different QuEChERS extraction method were evaluated. Recoveries obtained were higher than 74% and 76% in berries juice and jam berries, respectively. LDs for berries jam were from 2 to 8 ng/g and for berries juice from 0.1 to 3 ng/ml. The optimized procedure was applied to analyse 52 berries fruit by-products including 32 berries juice and 20 berries jam randomly collected from different markets in Valencia, Spain. 57% and 71% of berries juice samples presented aflatoxins and Alternaria mycotoxins, respectively. OTA was detected only in a blueberry juice (5% at 7.8 ng/ml). This work should contribute to EFSA's recommendations to develop sensitive analytical methods and generate more analytical data concerning the occurrence of Alternaria toxins in food and feed.