EFSA Assesses EU Limits for Deoxynivalenol in Cereals

EFSA has recently delivered an Opinion on the risks for public health related to a possible increase of the maximum level (ML) of deoxynivalenol (DON) for certain semi-processed cereal products from 750 µg/kg to 1000 µg/kg. Based on modelling different scenarios, it was concluded that an increase of the DON maximum levels would increase exposure and consequently increase exceedances of the group health based guidance values for this mycotoxin. The EFSA Panel did however see a need for more occurrence data on DON acetyl-derivatives, using sufficiently sensitive methods in order to assess their impact on the health risk associated with an increase of the maximum levels for DON.

R-Biopharm DONPREP® immunoaffinity columns offer highly specific clean-up for both DON and 3-acetyl DON for use with HPLC and LC-MS/MS. The complementary DZT MS-PREP® column offers clean-up to those laboratories wanting to monitor not only DON, but also zearalenone and T-2 and HT-2 Fusarium toxins. These columns are widely used in food control enabling official laboratories to meet method performance requirements set out in EU Regulations.