Ochratoxin A and citrinin production and migration in Penicillium verrucosum molded strawberry jams

Food losses and waste have become a major worldwide challenge, partly due to mold spoilage at the consumer level. One possible way to reduce food waste due to moldy foods would be to avoid a too conservative approach where products are directly discarded if fungal growth is observed. However, a food safety risk exists as many fungal species produce potentially toxic mycotoxins that can migrate into foods, so this hazard needs to be considered to establish consumer recommendations. This study quantified citrinin and ochratoxin A accumulation and migration in strawberry jams after inoculation with Penicillium verrucosum UBOCC 109221 and incubation at 8 and 20 °C. The mold failed to grow after 28days of incubation at 20 °C on jam with 59% sugar content but exhibited a constant growth rate of about 1.15 mm/d on the other sugar concentrations. After 14 days of incubation, citrinin concentration (10000 ng/g) for the jam containing 34 % sugar was about twice the concentration observed for 39 and 44 % sugar. Mycotoxin migration experiments were then carried out for 39 % sugar content and showed that the maximum mycotoxin concentrations were obtained for the 5 cm lesion diameter. At 20 °C, citrinin concentration (30 000 ng/g) was about twice that obtained at 8 °C, while the maximum ochratoxin A concentration was about 100 ng/g. For 1 and 2 cm lesions with 8°C storage, mycotoxins were not detected at 3 cm depth, accordingly jam can be consumed after removing about 2 to 3 cm beyond the moldy area. For greater lesions, jam should be discarded because mycotoxins were detected at >4 cm depth.