LC-HRMS Tracks Mycotoxin Fate in Pasta Making

Based on past research and current understanding, scientists suspect that mycotoxins (toxic substances produced by mold) present in raw food ingredients might break down or change when exposed to heat and mechanical stress during food processing. This could create new breakdown or transformation products. Currently, however, very little is known about these newly formed byproducts. Figuring out their exact structure and whether they pose any health risks is an important priority for accurately assessing food safety risks.

A recent study looked at what happens to two types of mold toxins, aflatoxins and fumonisins, during the production of gluten-free pasta made from corn flour. The researchers made gluten-free pasta two ways: by deliberately adding these toxins to the dough, and by using corn flour that was already naturally contaminated with them. The pasta was made using a pilot production line designed to mimic real industrial conditions, resulting in a product that could realistically be manufactured at scale. To figure out whether the added toxins broke down into new byproducts during processing, the researchers used stable isotope labeling combined with liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), an approach that does not require knowing in advance what byproducts to look for, allowing them to detect unexpected transformation products. A paper based on this research was published in the Journal of Mass Spectrometry.¹

Why Can't We Just Trust Standard Mycotoxin Testing to Tell Us Whether a Processed Food is Safe?

Normally, when food samples are tested, laboratories only check for the original, unaltered forms of mycotoxins. But because these toxins can change or break down through non-enzymatic reactions, like exposure to heat during food processing, the original toxin levels can drop while new forms show up instead. This can happen in a few ways: the toxin might become chemically altered, it might bind onto other components in the food, or it might get "hidden" in a form that's harder to detect using standard testing methods.^2-6 When mycotoxins change into these altered forms, standard testing methods used for routine quality checks often fail to catch them.² However, just because mycotoxin levels appear lower does not necessarily mean the food is actually safer. In some cases, the byproducts formed from these toxins can be even more harmful than the originals, and they may behave differently in the body, affecting how they are absorbed, processed, and how they cause harm.⁷

Did Aflatoxin and Fumonisins Break Down or Transform During Gluten-free Pasta Production, and How Confident Can We Be in These Findings?

The researchers reported that they did not find any breakdown or transformation products of AFB1 (one of the aflatoxins), at least not at levels high enough for their testing method to detect. which suggests AFB1 stays fairly stable throughout the gluten-free pasta-making process. For the fumonisins FB1 and FB2, they did spot a very faint signal that might have been a related breakdown product. However, the signal was too weak and did not have a clean enough pattern to confirm it was truly a genuine transformation product, rather than background noise or something unrelated. So, within the limits of what their testing method could detect, no confirmed breakdown products of FB1 or FB2 turned up either.¹

“The results,” write the authors of the paper,¹ “may suggest the stability of these mycotoxins under the production conditions of gluten-free pasta.”

The research team believes that it is worth noting that these results are specific to the methods used in this study. They do not rule out the possibility that some breakdown products did form, just in amounts too small to detect, or in forms the researchers were not specifically looking for.¹

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References

1. Rollo, E.; Schamann, A.; Doppler, M. et al. Fate of Aflatoxins and Fumonisins During Gluten-Free Pasta Processing: Untargeted ¹³C-Labelling LC-HRMS Based Approach. J Mass Spectrom. 2026, 61 (10), e70106. DOI: 10.1002/jms.70106
2. Köppen, R.; Koch, M.; Siegel, D. et al. Determination of Mycotoxins in Foods: Current State of Analytical Methods and Limitations. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2010, 86 (6), 1595-612. DOI: 10.1007/s00253-010-2535-1
3. Falavigna, C.; Cirlini, M.; Galaverna, G. et al. Masked Fumonisins in Processed Food: Co-Occurrence of Hidden and Bound Forms and Their Stability Under Digestive Conditions. World Mycotoxin J. 2012,5 (3): 325–334. DOI: 10.3920/WMJ2012.1403
4. Berthiller, F.; Crews, C.; Dall'Asta, C. et al. Masked Mycotoxins: A Review. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2013, 57 (1), 165-186. DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.201100764
5. Rychlik, M.; Humpf, H. U.; Marko, D. et al. Proposal of a Comprehensive Definition of Modified and Other Forms of Mycotoxins Including "Masked" Mycotoxins. Mycotoxin Res. 2014, 30 (4), 197-205. DOI: 10.1007/s12550-014-0203-5
6. Bryła, M.; Roszko, M.; Szymczyk, K. et al. Effect of Baking on Reduction of Free and Hidden Fumonisins in Gluten-free Bread. J Agric Food Chem. 2014, 62 (42), 10341-7. DOI: 10.1021/jf504077m
7. Stadler, D.; Berthiller, F.; Suman, M. et al. Novel Analytical Methods to Study the Fate of Mycotoxins During Thermal Food Processing. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2020, 412 (1), 9-16. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-019-02101-9