Alcoholic beer fermentation: impact of glutathione and peroxidase fortification on deoxynivalenol reduction

Abstract The use of contaminated cereals in fermentation processes can elicit a marked response from yeasts in the presence of mycotoxins, as indicated by the production of defense compounds such as peroxidase (PO) and glutathione (GSH) to reduce mycotoxin damage. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of fortifying GSH and PO levels in alcoholic fermentation as a strategy for reduce concentration deoxynivalenol (DON) during the brewing process. The QuEChERS method was validated for quantifying the mycotoxin and estimating reduction. Fermentation was conducted in a reactor containing 20 mL of synthetic wort inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (0.115 g). The reduction of DON was evaluated using a 2 4−1 fractional factorial design with the following independent variables: GSH concentration (0–50 mg L -1 ), PO activity (0–0.4 U mL -1 ), fortification time (0–48 h), and DON concentration (0.1–0.3 µg mL -1 ). The results of reducing the concentration of DON in experimental planning ranged from 76,2% to non-detection of mycotoxin, significantly, with PO activity as a significant variable. Fortification with GSH and PO was significant in the decrease of DON when it was at a higher level, increasing by 39% compared to the control. Supplementation with GSH and PO demonstrated in this study indicates the effectiveness of DON reduction in the evaluated contamination levels.