Abstract

Background: Rice is one of the crops, which are prone to be contaminated with toxigenic fungi and their mycotoxins. This study aimed to investigate the natural occurrence of T-2 toxin in domestic and imported rice in Iran. Methods: In a cross-sectional descriptive study in winter 2007, 140 samples of imported rice (125 samples of Thai and 25 samples of Pakistani rice) and 60 samples of Iranian rice were collected from warehouses of canteens of governmental offices in Tehran. After grinding and methanol extraction of the rice samples, the amount of T-2 toxin was measured using a sandwich ELISA. INSTATA statistical software was used for data analysis. Results: All samples of rice were more or less contaminated with T-2 toxin but the amount did not exceed the permissible limit. Mean contamination of domestic and imported rice was 11.2 +/- 2.3 and 13 +/- 2.7 mu g/kg, respectively. Regarding imported rice, mean of contamination was 14.5 +/- 4.6 mu g/kg for the Pakistani rice and 12.6 +/- 2.2 mu g/kg for the Thai rice. There was no significant difference between domestic and imported rice, nor did we find a meaningful difference among Iranian, Pakistani and Thai rice regarding the amount of contamination (P= 0.2). Conclusion: Although the amount of contamination is less than the safe limit, the extent of natural occurrence of T-2 toxin in rice in Iran indicates that contamination occurs somewhere in the production process. This, in turn, necessitates screening of rice for contamination with mycotoxins from farm to table.