Effect of Reactive Chemical Species on the Degradation of Deoxynivalenol, 3-Acetyldeoxynivalenol, and 15-Acetyldeoxynivalenol in Low-Temperature Plasmas

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the most prevalent Fusarium mycotoxins in food and feedstuff and causes serious health maladies to human and animals. Developing effective and safe methods for degrading DON and its derivatives, such as 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-AcDON) and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-AcDON), should be a priority of food safety agencies. In this research, low-temperature plasma treatment, a rapid and environment-friendly method, was shown to be effective in degrading DON, 3-AcDON, and 15-AcDON. The physicochemical characteristics of low-temperature plasma treatment, including the production of singlet oxygen (1O2), oxygen free radicals, NO2–, NO3–, and H2O2 concentrations at different times (1, 5, and 10 min) together with the degradation effect were evaluated. Our results showed that DON was effectively degraded by 54.6%; while 3-AcDON and 15-AcDON, which have not been reported to be degraded effectively by other methods, were degraded by 30.3 and 26.6%, respectively. Singlet oxygen had the highest concentration among oxygen free radicals but attenuated after 5 min of treatment. The concentrations of NO2–, NO3–, and H2O2 were observed in DON, 3-AcDON, and 15-AcDON solutions with a time-manner increase after plasma treatment, respectively. These reactive species that caused chemical breakdown of DON, 3-AcDON, and 15-AcDON in degradation were evaluated to be less toxic than those without treatment.