Toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins. General aspects [foods - feeds]
2002
Bottalico, A. (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Bari (Italy). Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari)
Toxic metabolites produced by fungi in infected plants or in moulded agricultural commodities, known as mycotoxins, can cause human and livestock mycotoxicoses when ingested with contaminated foods and feeds. The formation of mycotoxins can occur during any stages of food chain, in conjunction with conducive conditions, primarily water content of substrate and temperature, i.e. in the field before crop harvest, during post-harvest drying practices, during transport and storage, during the industrial food and feed preparations and, finally, during the packaging and marketing of final products. It has been estimated that at least one quarter of the world foods and feeds are contaminated. The commodities with highest contamination risks include: maize, peanut, other cereals, oilseeds, nuts, spices, some dried and fresh fruits and derived products, as well as domestic milk and cheese obtained from livestock consuming contaminated feeds. Since the discovery of aflatoxins in the early 1960s, which led to modern mycotoxicology, other relevant classes of mycotoxins were recognized, notably, zearalenones, trichothecenes (T-2 toxin, deoxynivalenol), ochratoxins, and fumonisins. Mycotoxins can elicit a wide range of health deleterious effects, with particular concern for cancerogenicity (aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisins), genotoxicity, immunotoxicity (leukopenia), dermotoxicity, neurotoxicity and reproductive and developmental toxicity. The unavoidable worldwide mycotoxin contamination led at least 80 Countries, including the European Community, to impose regulatory limits to minimize human and animal exposure
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