Mycotoxins: Hidden Danger in Food
What are mycotoxins? Several hundred different mycotoxins have been identified, but aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, patulin, fumonisins, zearalenone and nivalenol/deoxynivalenol are the most frequently detected mycotoxins that are of interest to human health and livestock. As a result of mold contamination of crops both before and after processing, mycotoxins occur in the food chain. Mycotoxin contamination may occur either directly from the ingestion of infected food or indirectly through animals fed with tainted feed, in particular from milk. Mycotoxins, the secondary metabolites of low molecular mass (MW ~700 Da) formed predominantly by Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium , are highly noxious substances in animals and humans. Not all mycotoxins, however, are labelled as such, such as penicillin, which is commonly used as an antibiotic. Fig. 1 Mycotoxin may occur through several contamination mechanisms in food and agricultural products, at any point of production, distribution, tra...