Human Biomonitoring Guidance Values for Deoxynivalenol Derived under the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU).

The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) was one of the priority substances in the European Joint Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) project. In this study, to better interpret the actual internal exposure of DON in the general population and safeguard public health, human biomonitoring guidance values of DON for the general population (HBM-GV GenPop ) were derived. The HBM-GV GenPop of DON was based on either the total DON (DON and its glucuronides) or DON's main metabolite (DON-15-GlcA) levels in 24-h urine samples, resulting in a HBM-GV GenPop of 0.023 µg/mL for the total DON or a HBM-GV GenPop of 0.020 µg/mL for DON-15-GlcA. The use of 24-h urine samples is recommended based on the fact that DON and its metabolites have a short elimination half-life (T 1/2 ), and 95% of the cumulative amount was excreted within 12 h after DON intake. The T 1/2 for DON, DON-15-GlcA, and total DON were estimated to be 2.55 h, 2.95 h, and 2.95 h, respectively. Therefore, a 24-h urine sample reflects almost all of the DON exposure from the previous day, and this type of sample was considered for the derivation of a HBM-GV GenPop for DON.