The objective of this study was to investigate the individual and combined contamination
of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), zearalenone (ZEN) and deoxynivalenol (DON) in feedstuffs from different
Provinces of China between 2016 and 2017. A total of 1569 samples, including 742 feed ingredients
and 827 complete pig feed samples, were collected from various regions of China for mycotoxins
analysis. The results showed that individual occurrence rates of AFB1, ZEN, and DON were
more than 83.3%, 88%, and 74.5%, respectively, in all the tested samples. DON was the most
prevalent contaminant, followed by ZEN and AFB1, with the average concentrations ranging from
450.0–4381.5 g/kg, 2.3–729.2 g/kg, and 1.3–10.0 g/kg, respectively. Notable, 38.2%, 10.8%, and
0.6% of complete pig feeds were contaminated with DON, ZEN, and AFB1 over China’s regulatory
limits, respectively. Moreover, over 75.0% analyzed samples were co-contaminated with two or
three mycotoxins. In conclusion, the current study revealed that the feedstuffs in China were
severely contaminated with DON, followed by ZEN and AFB1 during the past two years. These
findings highlight the importance of monitoring mycotoxins in livestock feed and implementing feed
management and bioremediation strategies to reduce mycotoxin exposure. |
