Bioaccessibility assessment of patulin and ochratoxin A in cereal and fruit based baby foods using a harmonized in vitro digestion model: Contribution for the risk assessment of chemical mixtures

Abstract

People, animals and the environment can be exposed to multiple chemicals at once from a variety of sources, but current risk assessment is usually carried out on one chemical substance at a time. Mycotoxins are fungal natural contaminants commonly found in a variety of foods including baby foods and have been found in cereal and fruit based baby foods. In human health risk assessment, ingestion of food is considered a major route of exposure to many contaminants including mycotoxins, although the total amount of an ingested contaminant (external dose) does not always reflect the amount that is available to the body (internal dose). The amount of mycotoxin resisting to the digestion process and potentially absorbable by the systemic circulation is only a smaller part of that ingested. In vitro digestion models become useful for evaluating mycotoxins bioaccessibility during the intestinal transit and can be intended as a valuable tool for the assessment of mycotoxin bioavailability in food.