Aflatoxins in maize harvested in the Republic of Serbia over the period 2012–2016

Abstract

Aflatoxins (AFs) are one of the most frequent contaminants in maize. The Republic of Serbia represents a leader in terms of maize production and exports in Europe. In recent years, Serbia faced climate changes. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to examine AF occurrence in 3000 maize samples collected during 2012-2016. In maize samples from 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016, AFs were detected in 72.3%, 24.7%, 36.7%, and 5.0% of the samples, in concentration ranges of 1.0-111.2, 1.2-65.2, 1.1-76.2, and 1.3-6.9 µg kg, respectively. Contrary to this, in maize samples from 2014, no AFs were detected. Analysis of weather conditions indicates that 2012 was characterised by extreme drought conditions, 2013 and 2015 by lack of precipitation and high air temperatures, 2014 as the rainiest year in these years, while 2016 had moderate weather conditions.

Impact of climate change on aflatoxin M1 contamination of raw milk with special focus on climate conditions in Serbia

“…Despite the analysis from 2014 indicating that AFs were not present in any of the examined maize samples, in 2015, AFM1 in raw milk was frequently found (70%), with the highest mean value (0.076 ± 0.14 μg kg −1 ) compared with the following years. Considering that Aspergillus species are also classified as a storage contaminant, our results suggest that elevated concentrations of AFM1 determined in milk in the first part of 2015 are most probably the result of contaminated cattle feedstuffs or feed with high levels of AFB1 due to poor storage conditions.…”

“…This consequently induced a high average moisture content in harvested maize kernels (>12%, w/w), followed by Fusarium and Penicillium growth and production of related mycotoxins. Likewise, it has been reported that AFs were not present in any of the examined maize samples in 2014 . The co‐occurrence of high air temperatures (up to 40 °C) and heavy rainfall with high relative humidity (up to 80%) within the same year is an emerging weather pattern in Serbia.…”

“…A number of studies produced by Serbian government authorities indicate that the frequency of both droughts and extreme rainfall events has increased significantly in the region over the past decade . Therefore possible impacts of climate change on mycotoxin occurrence have been discussed in a number of publications in recent years . The authors unanimously conclude that a shift from ‘traditional’ occurrence areas to regions where mycotoxin occurrence was previously uncommon is to be expected due to climate change.…”

“…The conceptual framework of this study is based on a top‐down approach, starting with prevalence of AFM1 in raw milk and ending with the adverse impact of climate change on food safety caused by the prevalence of AFs in maize. Therefore the study framework consists of three components: (1) the prevalence of AFM1 in raw milk during the four‐year period of investigation (2015–2018), (2) recently conducted research addressing the prevalence of AFs in maize and (3) climate data in that same period …”

Effects of caraway and juniper essential oils on aflatoxigenic fungi growth and aflatoxins secretion in polenta

“…A. parasiticus CBS 260.67 was obtained from the Centralbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS, Utrecht, The Netherlands) (Table ). On the other hand, in our climate area, due to climate change, the presence of aflatoxigenic molds and aflatoxins in corn and other cereals has been sporadically in recent years (Kos et al, ; Lević et al, ). This was another reason for investigation of these strains.…”