| Summary: | Mycotoxins and mycotoxicises have been problems of the past and the present,
but scientific attention for mycotoxins did not start until the early 1960’s.
Nowadays, many mycotoxins are known, and their occurrence in food and animal
feed may cause various adverse effects on human and animal health, including
carcinogenic, hepatotoxic, immunotoxic, nephrotoxic, neurotoxic, oestrogenic
and teratogenic effects. Some important mycotoxins include the aflatoxins,
ochratoxin A, the fumonisins and the trichothecenes, and their significance
is briefly described. To protect human and animal health, many countries have
enacted specific regulations for mycotoxins in food and animal feed. Risk
assessment is a major factor for scientific underpinning of regulations, but
other factors such as availability of adequate sampling and analysis
procedures also play an important a role in the establishment of mycotoxin
regulations. In addition, socio-economic factors such as cost-benefit
considerations, trade issues and sufficiency of food supply are equally
important in the decision-taking process to come to meaningful regulations.
Nowadays, more than 100 countries have formal mycotoxin regulations for food
and feed. The mycotoxin regulations are the most stringent in the EU, where
various organizations and pan-European networks contribute to combat the
mycotoxin problem. It is to be expected that mycotoxins will stay with us in
the future and climate change might have a negative influence in this
respect. Several possibilities exist to mitigate the problems caused by
mycotoxins. In particular prevention of mould growth and mycotoxin formation
is key to the control of mycotoxins.
|
|---|