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Mycotoxins in Alternaria alternata ‐ infected olive fruits and their possible transfer into oil 1
Author(s) -
BOTTALICO A.,
LOGRIECO A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
eppo bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.327
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1365-2338
pISSN - 0250-8052
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2338.1993.tb01355.x
Subject(s) - alternariol , alternaria alternata , mycotoxin , alternaria , food science , chemistry , olive oil , contamination , olea , horticulture , botany , biology , ecology
Alternaria species, mostly A. alternata , have occasionally been found in some years on olive samples collected in Puglia (southern Italy). A survey was consequently made on the occurrence of the major Alternaria mycotoxins, i.e. alternariol (AOH), alternariol methyl ether (AME), altenuene (ALT), altertoxin‐I (ATX‐I), and tenuazonic acid (TA) in olives and products of their processing (oil and husks). The toxigenicity of Alternaria strains isolated from olives, and the possible transfer of mycotoxins into the oil, were also investigated. Four out of 13 olive samples were contaminated by 2–4 Alternaria mycotoxins. The highest contamination was found in a badly damaged sample containing 2.9, 2.3, 1.4 and 0.3 mg kg −1 of AME, AOH, ALT and ATX‐I, respectively. No mycotoxins were detected in olive oil destined for human consumption (6 samples) or olive husks (3 samples) collected from oil‐mills after the first pressing of olives. An oil sample produced in our laboratory by processing the most contaminated olive sample, contained AOH (0.79 mg kg −1 ) and AME (0.29 mg kg −1 ). The estimated amount of mycotoxin transferred into the oil was 4%, for AME, 1.8% for AOH, and zero for ALT and TA (considering oil yield as 15%). The A. alternata strains isolated from olive produced much more mycotoxins when cultured on rice (up to 3 orders of magnitude for TA) than on olive.