WINE'S MYCOTOXIN PROFILE GROWS

AS THEY RAISE a glass, most wine drinkers would prefer to ponder the ancient beverage’s possible health benefits—lowering cholesterol, improving heart health—rather than its possible contamination with carcinogenic, kidney-destroying fungal toxins. But dangerous mycotoxins produced by fungus species are found in wine. Mycotoxins are longtime contaminants as old as food itself. Multitudes of toxin-producing fungi invade grains, peanuts, coffee, grapes, and other foods. Wine, by association with grapes, is not immune: It can contain small amounts of aflatoxins, which are carcinogens most notoriously associated with peanuts, and ochratoxin A, found in decaying fruits. Allowable amounts of these toxins in foods are heavily regulated by the U.S. and European governments. Now, chemists have discovered that yet another mycotoxin, known as fumonisin B 2 , once thought to be mainly a problem in grains, also exists in wine ( J. Agric. Food. Chem., DOI: 10.1021/jf904520t). Kristian F. Nielsen, who heads the analytic...