Diverse mycotoxin threats to safe food and feed cereals

Abstract

Toxigenic fungi, including Aspergillus and Fusarium species, contaminate our major cereal crops with an array of harmful mycotoxins, which threaten the health of humans and farmed animals. Despite our best efforts to prevent crop diseases, or postharvest spoilage, our cereals are consistently contaminated with aflatoxins and deoxynivalenol, and while established monitoring systems effectively prevent acute exposure, Aspergillus and Fusarium mycotoxins still threaten our food security. This is through the understudied impacts of: (i) our chronic exposure to these mycotoxins, (ii) the underestimated dietary intake of masked mycotoxins, and (iii) the synergistic threat of cocontaminations by multiple mycotoxins. Mycotoxins also have profound economic consequences for cereal and farmed-animal producers, plus their associated food and feed industries, which results in higher food prices for consumers. Climate change and altering agronomic practices are predicted to exacerbate the extent and intensity of mycotoxin contaminations of cereals. Collectively, this review of the diverse threats from Aspergillus and Fusarium mycotoxins highlights the need for renewed and concerted efforts to understand, and mitigate, the increased risks they pose to our food and feed cereals.

Efficacy of Two Commercially Available Adsorbents to Reduce the Combined Toxic Effects of Dietary Aflatoxins, Fumonisins, and Zearalenone and Their Residues in the Tissues of Weaned Pigs

“…One of the most significant economic effects of mycotoxicosis in pig production is the growth-rate reduction [17]. In this study, a mixture of AFs, FBs, and ZEN was used, leading to combined toxic effects on the exposed animals.…”

Machine Learning Applied to the Detection of Mycotoxin in Food: A Systematic Review

“…This excess led to the reclassification of this contaminated wheat grain as ‘animal feed’, resulting in an economic loss of around EUR 3 billion [ 14 ]. Additionally, [ 15 ] shows that, between 2010 and 2020, aflatoxins were responsible for the demotion of 4.2% of wheat intended for food, which potentially represented an additional economic loss of EUR 2.5 billion. As a result, the detection and management of mycotoxins in crops and food products is crucial for ensuring food safety and safeguarding consumer health worldwide as well as contributing to economic stability.…”

A conserved fungal Knr4/Smi1 protein is vital for maintaining cell wall integrity and host plant pathogenesis

“…Floral Infections lead to contamination of grain with mycotoxins that are subject to strict legal limits in different global regions (European Commission, 2006; EFSA, 2017; AHDB, 2023). Despite ongoing endeavours to manage FHB, mycotoxin contamination continues to significantly impact the economies of cereal and livestock producers, as well as the food, drink, and feed industries (Latham et al, 2023). The B-type sesquiterpenoid deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most common FHB mycotoxin in European food and feed wheat (Johns et al, 2022).…”