Investigation of Mycotoxin Levels and GMO Presence in Corn Produced in Turkey

Abstract

In Turkey, there is a continuous increase in the annual production of corn. Nevertheless, consumers‘ perception of corn becomes more negative each day, since corn is the most genetically modified product worldwide, after soybean. While the potential negative effects of genetically modified corn are being debated, the greatest threat to human health in corn is the presence of mycotoxins. In this study, corn samples were collected from 634 fields in 552 villages of 24 cities in Turkey, and the presence of GMO, aflatoxin B1, total aflatoxins, fumonisin B1, fumonisin B2, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol was investigated. No transgenic element was found in any of the corn samples. The total aflatoxin levels of the corn samples were found to be below the Turkish Food Codex limit and, among the total of 634 samples, only one sample exceeded the Turkish Food Codex limit for aflatoxin B1. Moreover, no T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol were detected in the samples. The total amounts of fumonisins were also found to be below the Turkish Food Codex limit. These results show that domestically produced corn meets the standards for food safety.