engleski

The impact of seasonal weather variations on mycotoxin occurrence in fermented meat products

Croatian traditional dry-cured meat products encompass various types of dry-fermented sausages and dry-cured meats, such as prosciutto, pancetta, dry-neck, etc. In the traditional production process, in addition to differences in recipes followed by producing households, there are also significant differences in hygienic and environmental production conditions which affect the specificity of microflora and yield differences in the quality and safety of the final products. One of the safety aspects that raises concern is contamination with toxigenic moulds and their secondary metabolites mycotoxins. In view of the already recognized weather impact on the occurrence of toxicogenic moulds and mycotoxins, the aim of this study was to relate data on seasonal weather variations during the products’ maturation to mycotoxin concentrations determined in TMPs (n = 250) collected in five Croatian regions (eastern, northern, central, western, and southern) during two sampling years (2020 and 2021). Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA), sterigmatocystin (STC), citrinin (CIT), and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) were identified using LC-MS/MS (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry). Mycotoxin contamination was related to regional weather conditions (average temperatures and precipitation amount) witnessed during production, which can generally be characterized as warm and rainy, therefore increasing the risk of mould growth and mycotoxin production. Despite the absence of a statistically significant difference in the concentration of individual mycotoxins across the production regions, a difference in mycotoxin occurrence was found. The eastern (39 %) and the western (33 %) region, having a moderate climate, delivered the largest number of contaminated samples, while the southern region (9%), often compared to subtropics, delivered the smallest number of such samples, so that the determined mycotoxins were probably mainly produced by the Penicillium rather than the Aspergillus species. Due to the interaction of various factors that may affect mycotoxin biosynthesis during production, the detected concentrations cannot be solely related to the weather, indicating the necessity of further research on potential sources and mechanisms of contamination during all stages of TMP production and storage, which may lead to the occurrence of mycotoxins.

dry-cured meats ; influence ; mycotoxin contamination ; regional weather ; sausages

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