Study of chili peppers and paprika contamination with alternaria toxins as health risk factors

At present, researchers show considerable interest in unregulated toxins of widespread fungi in nature, in particular, metabolites of microfungi of Alternaria genus. These toxins are potentially hazardous for human health and, under unfavorable conditions, capable of producing toxic metabolites, Alternaria toxins (AT), which have shown genotoxicity, mutagenicity and acute toxic effects. They are frequently detected not only in cereals and oilseeds, fruits, nuts, vegetables, but also in spices, especially dried red peppers. The aim of the study was to investigate the occurrence of Alternaria toxins in paprika and chili peppers sold on the domestic market as well as to assess their intakes by humans through their consumption. Concentration of 5 Alternaria toxins (alternatiol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), altenuene (ALT), tentoxin (TEN), tenuazonic acid (TeA)) was detected in 37 samples of dried red peppers marketed in Moscow and Moscow region in 2024 year including paprika (20 samples) and chili pepper (17 samples). The analysis of Alternaria toxins contamination was carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass-spectrometric detection (HPLC-MS/MS). TeA was detected in 84 % of red pepper samples in concentration from 43 to 3295 µg/kg and TEN - in 40 % cases, in low levels ranging from 1.0 to 11 µg/kg. The occurrence of AT in paprika was higher than in chili pepper. Combined (2 or more toxins) contamination with Alternaria toxins was found only in paprika samples (65 %; the predominant combination is TeA and TEN). Intakes of Alternaria toxins associated with consumption of chili and paprika did not exceed the reference values and ranged from 0.0003 % (for TEN) to 0.24 % (for TeA) of the threshold of toxicological concern (TTC).