Description

​Alternaria toxins are naturally occurring toxins released by plants. The toxin levels in selected foods on the Canadian retail market were examined. The most important Alternaria toxins are alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), altuene (ALT) and L-tenuazonic acid (TeA). TeA is the most acutely toxic while AOH and AME have a lower toxicity. However, there are several reports on the mutagenic and genotoxic effects of AME and AOH as well as a tendency to kill fetuses of rats. A total of 399 samples of beer, juices, oils and seeds were collected from retail locations in six cities across Canada and tested for AOH and AME. ALT and TeA were not included in the analytical method because of a lack of commercially available standards. AOH and/or AME were detected in 232 (58%) of the samples. The levels of AOH and AME were added so that the total Alternaria toxin levels are reported in this survey. The levels detected ranged from 0.050 parts-per-billion (ppb) to 573 ppb. Health Canada (HC) determined the levels of AOH and AME observed in the current survey are not expected to pose a concern to human health, therefore there were no recalls resulting from this survey. CFIA is conducting appropriate follow up activities which include further testing of similar products in previous and subsequent years.

Resources

Name	Format	Description	Link
Alternaria in Beer, Juices, Oils and Seeds - April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019	CSV		https://open.canada.ca/data/dataset/c97c7e25-7acc-449a-91f1-1ac811490ec4/resource/7e210ca5-2e37-406c-9144-4d0e055d45fd/download/cfia_acia-1141_2018-19_alternaria_in_beverages__oils_and_seeds_-_2018-2019_toxines-dalternaria-d.csv

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