Survey of aflatoxins in tomato products

Tomatoes are soft skin fruits highly susceptible to fungi contamination, mainly through injured skin or damaged tissues (AYRES; KRAFT; PIERCE, 1964; PEARSON; HALL, 1975). Strains from several fungi species are known to produce toxins on tomatoes during field production or storage. In the U.S.A., the main fungi genera found in tomatoes were Alternaria, Aspergillus, Botrytis, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Fusarium, Geotrichum, mucor, penicillium, phytophthora, Rhizophus, and Stemphylium (AYRES; KRAFT; PIERCE, 1964; HARWIG et al., 1979; MISLIVEC et al., 1987). Tenuazonic acid, an Alternaria toxin, was detected in tomato products in Canada and in the U.S.A. (SCOTT; KANHERE, 1980; STACK et al., 1985). Low levels of tenuazonic acid were also found in national tomato products, as well as ciclopiazonic acid, a toxin produced by penicillium and Aspergillus genera (MOTTA; SOARES, 2001). On the other hand, the analysis of national tomato products for verruculogen, produced by penicillium, and patulin, produced by penicillium, Aspergillus and Byssochlamys, showed negative results (KAWASHIMA; SOARES; MASSAGUER, 2002). Aflatoxin, an Aspergillus toxin, was detected in rotten tomatoes commercialized in Nigeria (MUHAMMAD; SHEHU; AMUSA, 2004).