Selenium and iodine are essential trace elements for both humans and animals. Among other things, they have an essential role in thyroid function and the production of important hormones by the thyroid gland. Unfortunately, in many areas, soils are deficient in selenium and iodine, and their amount is insufficient to produce crops with adequate contents to cover the recommended daily intake; thus, deficiencies have an endemic character. With the introduction of iodized table salt in the food industry, the thyroid status of the population has improved, but several areas remain iodine deficient. Furthermore, due to the strong relationship between iodine and selenium in metabolic processes, selenium deficiency often compromises the desired positive impact of salt iodization efforts. Therefore, a considerable number of studies have looked for alternative methods for the simultaneous supplementation of selenium and iodine in foodstuff. In most cases, the subject of these studies is crops; recently, meat has also been a subject of interest. This paper reviews the most recent strategies in agriculture to fortify selenium and iodine in crop plants, their effect on the quality of the plant species used, and the potential impact of food processing on their stability in fortified crops.

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Iodine is an essential micronutrient for most living beings, including humans. Despite efforts through various iodine deficiency disorders elimination programs, such as salt iodization, this problem still persists. Sub-clinical deficiencies have often an endemic character, and they are characteristic to certain areas, where iodine is low or inaccessible in the geochemical environment. Thus, the monitoring of iodine speciation and fractionation—especially in soil, drinking water, and food—is needed. Therefore, the aim of this work is to review the iodine distribution in most common soil fractions which relate to its bioavailability; and briefly summarize the available methods for their identification in the environmental matrices as well.

Bioleaching of mineral phases plays a crucial role in the mobility and availability of various elements, including selenium. Therefore, the leachability of selenium associated with the surfaces of ferric and manganese oxides and oxyhydroxides, the prevailing components of natural geochemical barriers, has been studied in the presence of filamentous fungus. Both geoactive phases were exposed to selenate and subsequently to growing fungus Aspergillus niger for three weeks. This common soil fungus has shown exceptional ability to alter the distribution and mobility of selenium in the presence of both solid phases. The fungus initiated the extensive bioextraction of selenium from the surfaces of amorphous ferric oxyhydroxides, while the hausmannite (Mn3O4) was highly susceptible to biodeterioration in the presence of selenium. This resulted in specific outcomes regarding the selenium, iron, and manganese uptake by fungus and residual selenium concentrations in mineral phases as well. The adverse effects of bioleaching on fungal growth are also discussed.