Impact of mycotoxins on human health in developing countries

Abstract

Adverse human health effects from the consumption of mycotoxins have occurred for many centuries. Although mycotoxin contamination of agricultural products still occurs in the developed world, the application of modern agricultural practices and the presence of a legislatively regulated food processing and marketing system have greatly reduced mycotoxin exposure in these populations. At the mycotoxin contamination levels generally found in food products traded in these market economies, adverse human health effects have largely been overcome. However, in the developing world, where climatic and crop storage conditions are frequently conducive to fungal growth and mycotoxin production, much of the population relies on subsistence farming or on unregulated local markets. The extent to which mycotoxins affect human health is difficult to investigate in countries whose health systems lack capacity and in which resources are limited. Aflatoxin B 1 , the toxin on which major resources have been expended, has long been linked to liver cancer, yet its other effects, such as immune suppression and growth faltering previously observed in veterinary studies, are only now being investigated and characterized in human populations. The extent to which factors such as immune suppression contribute to the overall burden of infectious disease is difficult to quantify, but is undoubtedly significant. Thus, food safety remains an important opportunity for addressing current health problems in developing countries.

Mycotoxins and surface and internal fungi of maize from Ethiopia

“…By comparison to such tolerance limits, the levels of AFT and fusariotoxins in maize grain of 2004/05 harvest in Ethiopia were too low to be of major concern. Identifying low mycotoxin risk areas may contribute to the management of mycotoxin problems in poorer parts of Africa where as indicated by Shephard [30] regulation is less practical under the prevailing food scarcity and lack of capacity to enact or enforce legislation on mycotoxin levels. Specific ELISA methods were used for analysis of AFT and FUM with quantification limits of 1.75 and 222 µg kg -1 , respectively.…”

How does electron beam irradiation dose affect the chemical and antioxidant profiles of wild dried Amanita mushrooms?

“…The drying process causes the reduction of vegetative cells of microorganisms, which gives rise to a flora of bacteria and fungi that have the ability to survive for long periods in dried foods and produce toxins harmful to human health (ICMSF, 1985); the high humidity that exists during storage also predisposes dried mushrooms to invasion by microorganisms (Shephard, 2008;Ezekiel et al, 2013).…”

Impact of Enzymes and Toxins Potentiality of Four Aspergillus Species to Cause Aspergillosis

“…Fungi cause human illness in different ways. Exposure to mycotoxins as a result of infection by a toxigenic fungus is a serious risk to human health in developing countries where the effects of poverty and malnutrition lead to an exacerbation of the detrimental effects of these toxins by circumscribing biochemical detoxification mechanisms [60]. Mycoses are the best-known diseases of fungal etiology, but toxic secondary metabolites produced by saprophytic species are also an important health hazard.…”