International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The paper presents the applicability of gamma irradiation for the degradation of mycotoxins ochratoxin A, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol in wheat flour. The experiment was carried out by contamination of wheat flour samples with mixture of the mycotoxins and their gamma irradiaton with doses of 5 kGy, 10 kGy and 20 kGy using industrial gamma irradiation facility BULGAMMA. The concentrations of the mycotoxins before and after the radiation processing were measured by HPLC. The results showed that the application of a dose of 10 kGy resulted in incomplete decomposition of the investigated mycotoxins: 12 % of deoxynivalenol, 13 % of ochratoxin A and 37 % of zearalenone. The decomposition of the investigated mycotoxins in wheat flour achieved after gamma irradiation with a dose of 20 kGy was found to increase in the following order: ochratoxin A (48 %) > zearalenone (66 %) > deoxynivalenol (97 %).

The article presents the effects of different doses of gamma irradiation on the degradation of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 in wheat flour. The experiment was conducted after contamination of wheat flour samples with mixture of aflatoxins with concentrations from 3 μg/kg to 12 μg/kg using reference material. Irradiation of flour aliquots with absorbed doses from 5.8 kGy to 27 kGy was carried out in an industrial gamma irradiation facility BULGAMMA. The concentrations of the aflatoxins before and after the radiation processing were measured by HPLC. The results showed that gamma irradiation with 27 kGy caused the highest degree of destruction of aflatoxins B2 (82 %) and G2 (81 %), followed by aflatoxin G1 (65 %) and to the lowest extend of aflatoxin B1 (59 %). Gamma irradiation with the maximum allowable dose for commercial food irradiation of 10 kGy was not sufficient to destroy the studied aflatoxins to the maximum permissible concentrations in wheat flour.