In Situ Fusarium Mycotoxin Mitigation During Wholegrain Wheat Flour Fermentation with Sourdough Lactic Acid Bacteria and Further Insights into Reduction Mechanisms.
- 1Department of the Soil, Plant and Food Science (DiSSPA), University of Bari Aldo Moro, Via Amendola, 165/a, 70126 Bari, Italy.
- 2Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Turin, Largo Paolo Braccini 2, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy.
- 3Department of Environmental Biology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Abstract
Fusarium mycotoxins are major contaminants of cereal-based products, yet effective clean-label mitigation strategies are still limited. Although lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been extensively investigated as biological tools for mycotoxin reduction, evidence is largely based on in vitro studies. Here, nineteen LAB strains representative of sourdough microbiota were screened for their ability to reduce deoxynivalenol (DON) in wholegrain wheat dough. Pronounced strain-dependent differences were observed, leading to the selection of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 1A7, Limosilactobacillus fermentum 10B, and Pediococcus pentosaceus I76 for further evaluation against a broader panel of Fusarium regulated and emerging mycotoxins, including modified DON derivatives, moniliformin, and enniatins. After 48 h of fermentation, with LAB populations reaching approximately 9 log CFU g⁻¹, the selected strains achieved comparable reduction efficiencies across multiple analytes, decreasing mycotoxin levels by approximately 50% and lowering DON concentrations from 1270 µg kg⁻¹ to below the European regulatory limit of 600 µg kg⁻¹ for cereal milling products. To gain insight into the mechanisms involved, fermentations were performed using both viable and heat-inactivated cells. The lower reduction efficiency observed with inactivated cells was consistent with a contribution of cell wall-mediated adsorption, although additional contributions from LAB metabolic activity cannot be excluded. Overall, sourdough LAB effectively reduced multiple mycotoxins in a complex cereal matrix, with the observed effects indicating a reduction in extractable mycotoxin levels without providing conclusive evidence of detoxification. These findings provide new insights into LAB-mycotoxin interactions and support fermentation-based strategies for mycotoxin mitigation in wheat-based foods.
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BibTeX
@article{perri2026situ,
title = {{In Situ Fusarium Mycotoxin Mitigation During Wholegrain Wheat Flour Fermentation with Sourdough Lactic Acid Bacteria and Further Insights into Reduction Mechanisms.}},
author = {Giuseppe Perri and Claudia Sardella and Lorenzo Ciraldo and Valentina Scarpino and Simona Carbone and Federico Rametta and Massimo Blandino and Carlo Giuseppe Rizzello and Erica Pontonio},
journal = {Foods (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/foods15193543},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883650},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - In Situ Fusarium Mycotoxin Mitigation During Wholegrain Wheat Flour Fermentation with Sourdough Lactic Acid Bacteria and Further Insights into Reduction Mechanisms.
AU - Giuseppe Perri
AU - Claudia Sardella
AU - Lorenzo Ciraldo
AU - Valentina Scarpino
AU - Simona Carbone
AU - Federico Rametta
AU - Massimo Blandino
AU - Carlo Giuseppe Rizzello
AU - Erica Pontonio
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/04
JO - Foods (Basel, Switzerland)
DO - 10.3390/foods15193543
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42883650
AB - Fusarium mycotoxins are major contaminants of cereal-based products, yet effective clean-label mitigation strategies are still limited. Although lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been extensively investigated as biological tools for mycotoxin reduction, evidence is largely based on in vitro studies. Here, nineteen LAB strains representative of sourdough microbiota were screened for their ability to reduce deoxynivalenol (DON) in wholegrain wheat dough. Pronounced strain-dependent differences were observed, leading to the selection of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 1A7, Limosilactobacillus fermentum 10B, and Pediococcus pentosaceus I76 for further evaluation against a broader panel of Fusarium regulated and emerging mycotoxins, including modified DON derivatives, moniliformin, and enniatins. After 48 h of fermentation, with LAB populations reaching approximately 9 log CFU g⁻¹, the selected strains achieved comparable reduction efficiencies across multiple analytes, decreasing mycotoxin levels by approximately 50% and lowering DON concentrations from 1270 µg kg⁻¹ to below the European regulatory limit of 600 µg kg⁻¹ for cereal milling products. To gain insight into the mechanisms involved, fermentations were performed using both viable and heat-inactivated cells. The lower reduction efficiency observed with inactivated cells was consistent with a contribution of cell wall-mediated adsorption, although additional contributions from LAB metabolic activity cannot be excluded. Overall, sourdough LAB effectively reduced multiple mycotoxins in a complex cereal matrix, with the observed effects indicating a reduction in extractable mycotoxin levels without providing conclusive evidence of detoxification. These findings provide new insights into LAB-mycotoxin interactions and support fermentation-based strategies for mycotoxin mitigation in wheat-based foods.
SN - 2304-8158
ER -