Rehabilitation of aged drinking water pipes is an extensive renovation and increasingly topical in many European cities. Spray-on-lining of drinking water pipes is an alternative cost-effective rehabilitation technology in which the insides of pipes are relined with organic polymer. A commonly used polymer is epoxy resin consisting of monomer bisphenol A (BPA). Leaching of BPA from epoxy lining to drinking water has been a concern among public and authorities. Currently epoxy lining is not recommended in some countries. BPA leaching has been demonstrated in laboratory studies but the behavior and ageing process of epoxy lining in situ is not well known. In this study 6 locations with different age epoxy linings of drinking water pipes done using two distinct technologies were studied. While bisphenol F, 4-n-nonylphenol, and 4-t-octylphenol were rarely found and in trace concentrations, BPA was detected in majority of samples. Pipes lined with the older technology (LSE) leached more BPA than those with more recent technology (DonPro): maxima in cold water were 0.25 μg/L and 10 ng/L, respectively. Incubation of water in pipes 8-10 h prior to sampling increased BPA concentration in cold water 1.1-43-fold. Hot water temperature caused even more BPA leaching - at maximum 23.5 μg/L. The influence of ageing of epoxy lining on BPA leaching on could be shown in case of LSE technology: locations with 8-9 years old lining leached 4-20-fold more BPA compared to a location with 2-year-old lining. Analysis of metals showed that epoxy lining can reduce especially iron concentration in water. No significant burden to water could be shown by the analyzed 72 volatile organic compounds, including epichlorhydrin, precursor used in epoxy resin. Estrogenicity was detected in water samples with the highest BPA loads. Comparable responses of two yeast bioreporters (estrogen receptor α and BPA-targeted) indicated that bisphenol-like compounds were the main cause of estrogenicity. Compared to the estimated average daily BPA exposure, additional BPA load via cold drinking water in the studied locations was low, maximum 8.7%. However, hot water should also be considered as exposure source due to higher BPA concentrations. Epoxy lined locations should be monitored in future in order to evaluate ageing process and control increasing leaching of potentially harmful chemicals.

Mycotoxins are widely studied by many research groups in all aspects, but the stability of these compounds needs further research for clarification. The objective of this study is to evaluate deoxynivalenol and zearalenone stability during all steps of the malting and brewing processes. The levels of these compounds decreased significantly during the production process (barley to beer). During the malting process, the DON levels decreased significantly in the steeping, germination, and malting steps (62%, 51.5%, and 68%, respectively). Considering ZEN, when the levels were compared between barley and the last step of the process, a significant decrease was observed. Most of the mycotoxins produced were transferred to the rootlets and spent grains, which is advantageous considering the final product. Furthermore, the mycotoxin dietary intake estimation was included in this study. The results proved that if the concentrations of target mycotoxins in raw material are under the limits established by the regulations, the levels decrease during the malting and brewing processes and make the beer secure for consumers. The quality of the five commodities involved in the beer process plays a decisive role in the creation of a safe final product.

The increasing interest in defining the content of mycotoxins is related to the development of methods for their determination. Several methods of determination have been published. This paper describes analytical procedures such as (a) sample preparation – sampling and homogenization, (b) extraction and purification – solid phase extraction (SPE), a QuEChERS method (acronymic name from quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe), solid-liquid extraction (SLE) and immuno affinity extraction (IAE). It also provides a review of, (c) instruments, and other analytical methods such as thin layer chromatography (TLC), enzyme linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) and liquid chromatography (LC), gas chromatography (GC) with different detectors for determination of mycotoxin in barley, malt and beer are discussed.