Overview on the Mycotoxins Incidence in Serbia in the Period 2004–2016

Abstract

With an average annual production of 6.9 M tonnes and 2.5 M tonnes of maize and wheat respectively, Serbia is one of the main grain producers and exporters in Europe. Cereals are also the major staple food in Serbian diet. In view of the high cereal consumption, for human and animal nutrition, the presence of mycotoxins entails a high public health risk of chronic exposure to mycotoxins. This study provides an overview of the incidence of predominant mycotoxins, mainly in cereal and dairy products, in Serbia, in the 2004–2016, using data reported in the scientific literature. The study demonstrated that the total prevalence of aflatoxins was 62.9% (n = 12,517) with 26.2% of the samples exceeding the EU limits during this period. Results obtained for T-2/HT-2 (n = 523), deoxynivalenol (n = 2907), fumonisins (n = 998), zearalenone (n = 689) and ochratoxin A (n = 740) indicated the prevalence of 45.5%, 42.9%, 63.3%, 39.3% and 28.1%, respectively. For these mycotoxins, the EU limits were less frequently exceeded. Comprehensive collection and analysis of all accessible information reviewed in this paper showed moderate incidence and prevalence of mycotoxins in Serbia, with an exception of the 2012 drought year and the 2014 flood year.

Potential application of lactic acid starters in the reduction of aflatoxin contamination in fermented sorghum-millet beverages

“…This study was mainly focused on evaluating the aflatoxin concentration in cereal flours and Obushera. However, the presence of Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillium species in the flours and Obushera is an indication that other mycotoxins such as ochratoxin A and trichothecenes (Udovicki et al 2018a(Udovicki et al , 2018b could be potential contaminants in this product and related beverages.…”

“…Aflatoxins are toxic, carcinogenic and immunosuppressive metabolites of various strains of Aspergillus (A. ), mainly A. flavus, A. parasiticus, A. nomius and A. tamarii (Udovicki et al 2018a;Iyanda et al 2014;Black et al 2013). The major aflatoxins are B1 (AFB1) -the most lethal, B2 (AFB2), G1 (AFG1) and G2 (AFG2) (Romani 2004).…”

Adverse Effects, Transformation and Channeling of Aflatoxins Into Food Raw Materials in Livestock

“…Mycotoxins are mainly produced on small grains, cereals such as wheat, barley, oats, rye and triticale or on corn but animal products such as milk, meat, liver or eggs can also be contaminated by mycotoxins at various points of the feed and food chain (Gacem and El Hadj-Khelil, 2016;Udovicki et al, 2018). Because the sampling of feeds and foods for mycotoxin analysis may follow quite different protocols in different laboratories the standardization of these procedures represents a real challenge for analytics.…”

“…They represent a risk factor to human health directly in the food chain and through biological transformations as well. Mycotoxinogenic fungi are present mainly in small grains like wheat, barley, rye, rice, triticale, and corn (Miller, 2008;Gacem and El Hadj-Khelil, 2016;Udovicki et al, 2018) and also in different feedstuffs. In fact, aflatoxins were first discovered following a severe livestock poisoning incident in England involving turkeys (e.g., Amare and Keller, 2014;Keller, 2019).…”

Aflatoxins in Uganda: an encyclopedic review of the etiology, epidemiology, detection, quantification, exposure assessment, reduction and control

“…The minor AFs (M-series and lower members) have received description 83 as mammalian biotransformation products of the major metabolites [19]. 84 Aflatoxins are produced mainly by Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, A. nomius and A. tamarii [20][21][22][23] which are universally soil-borne fungi responsible for decomposition of plant materials. About 20 Aspergillus species have been reported to produce AFs [24], though the exploration of more novel and potential aflatoxigenic fungi continues [25][26][27][28][29].…”