ORIGINAL ARTICLE Mycobiota and mycotoxins in malted barley and brewer’s spent grain from Argentinean breweries 1 M.L. Gonzalez Pereyra 1,2 , C.A.R. Rosa 3,4 , A.M. Dalcero 1,5 and L.R. Cavaglieri 1,5 1 Departamento de Microbiologı ´a e Inmunologı´a, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fı´sico-Quı´micas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Rı´o Cuarto, Rı ´o Cuarto, Co ´ rdoba, Argentina 2 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientı´ficas y Te ´ cnicas (CONICET), Argentina 2 3 Departamento de Microbiologia e Imunologı ´a Veterina ´ ria. Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Serope ´ dica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 4 Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas Cientı ´ficas (CNPq), Brazil 5 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientı´ficas y Tecnolo ´ gicas (CONICET), Argentina Introduction The occurrence of mycotoxins in commodities and agri- cultural products is a major worldwide concern for live- stock, food and feed industry. Barley, malt and several by-products associated with the production of beer are susceptible to fungal contamination and the consequent production of mycotoxins. Beer is widely consumed around the world. Per capita consumption of beer in Argentina is c. 33 l year )1 per person. The public health risk from mycotoxins in beer is uncertain; however, risks to livestock from mycotoxins in by-products is a clear risk (Wolf-Hall 2007). Sources of mycotoxins in beer and by-products of animal and human consumption may include contaminated malt or adjunct grains used in malting and brewing. Malted barley, the most common ingredient used in the beer making process, is produced by germinating the seed under regulated conditions of moisture and tempera- ture. Malt is the source of amylase enzymes, which will break down starch in barley to produce simpler sugars for yeast to metabolize during beer fermentation. Brewer’s spent grains are moist by-products from the brewing industry, obtained from residues of malted and unmalted Keywords aflatoxins, barley, fumonisins, malt, zearalenone. Correspondence Lilia Cavaglieri, Departamento de Microbiologı´a e Inmunologı´a, Universidad Nacional de Rı´o Cuarto, Ruta 36 km, 601, 5800 Rı´o Cuarto, Co ´ rdoba, Argentina. E-mail: lcavaglieri@arnet.com.ar 2011 / 0723: received 27 April 2011, revised 15 September 2011 and accepted 23 September 2011 doi:10.1111/j.1472-765X.2011.03157.x Abstract Aims: To evaluate mycobiota and aflatoxins B 1 (AFB 1 ), B 2 (AFB 2 ), G 1 (AFG 1 ), G 2 (AFG 2 ) and fumonisin B 1 (FB 1 ) contamination in different malted barley types and brands and brewer’s grain collected from a major Argentinean brewery. Methods and Results: Total fungal counts were performed using the plate count method. Aflatoxin B 1 , AFB 2 , AFG 1 , AFG 2 and ZEA 3 analyses were per- formed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Fumonisin B 1 was determined by HPLC. Eighty-three percentage of the malted barley (100% M1, 50% M2 and 100% M3) and 61% of brewer’s grain samples had a count >1 · 10 4 CFU g )1 . Yeasts were isolated from all malt and brewer’s grain samples. Genera contain- ing some of the most important mycotoxin producer species – Fusarium ssp., Aspergillus ssp., Penicillium ssp. and Alternaria ssp. – were isolated from the analysed samples, along with other environmental saprophytic fungi such as Geotrichum ssp., Mucorales and Cladosporium ssp. All samples were contami- nated with 104–145 lg kg )1 FB 1 . Eighteen percent of brewer’s grain samples were contaminated with 19–44®52 lg kg )1 AFB 1 . Aflatoxin B 2 , AFG 1 , AFG 2 and ZEA were not detected in any of the analysed samples. Conclusions: Fungal and mycotoxin contamination in malt and brewer’s grain is an actual risk for animal and human health. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study may be useful for assessing the risk of mycotoxins in Argentinean beers and especially in animal feeds. L A M 3 1 5 7 B Dispatch: 17.10.11 Journal: LAM CE: Sangeeta Journal Name Manuscript No. Author Received: No. of pages: 7 PE: Sathya Kala Letters in Applied Microbiology ISSN 0266-8254 ª 2011 The Authors Letters in Applied Microbiology ª 2011 The Society for Applied Microbiology 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53