文摘
Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium verticillioides (=F. moniliforme) and other Fusariumspecies. They are found in corn and corn-based foods. Cooking decreases fumonisin concentrationsin food products under some conditions; however, little is known about how cooking effects biologicalactivity. Baked cornbread, pan-fried corncakes, and deep-fried fritters were made from cornmealthat was spiked with 5% w/w F. verticillioides culture material (CM). The cooked materials and theuncooked CM-spiked cornmeal were fed to male rats (n = 5/group) for 2 weeks at high (20% w/wspiked cornmeal equivalents) or low (2% w/w spiked cornmeal equivalents) doses. A control groupwas fed a diet containing 20% w/w unspiked cornmeal. Toxic response to the uncooked CM-spikedcornmeal and the cooked products included decreased body weight gain (high-dose only), decreasedkidney weight, and microscopic kidney and liver lesions of the type caused by fumonisins. Fumonisinconcentration, as determined by HPLC analysis, in the 20% w/w pan-fried corncake diet [92.2 ppmof fumonisin B1 (FB1)] was slightly, but not statistically significantly, lower than those of the 20% w/wbaked cornbread (132.2 ppm of FB1), deep-fried fritter (120.2 ppm of FB1) and CM-spiked cornmeal(130.5 of ppm FB1) diets. Therefore, baking and frying had no significant effect on the biologicalactivity or concentration of fumonisins in these corn-based products, and the results provided noevidence for the formation of novel toxins or "hidden" fumonisins during cooking.Keywords: Fumonisins; bioassay; cooking; food safety