Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
animals. While acute exposure to high concentrations can cause liver or kidney deterio-
ration, chronic effects include carcinogenicity, cytotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, neuro-
toxicity, mutagenicity, teratogenicity, estrogenicity, and immune suppression [4,5].
Many international and governmental organizations, such as the World Health
Organization (WHO), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the European
Commission (EC), and the U.S. Food andDrugAdministration (FDA), have recognized
the occurrence of mycotoxins in food and feed as a serious health risk and have worked
to establish and/or update respectivemaximumconcentrations for these compounds [5].
In the past, numerous monitoring and toxicological studies were conducted to cope with
problems related to occurrence of mycotoxins. Based on occurrence results, hygienic
limits and/or tolerable daily intake (TDI) values were adopted for some related groups for
individual mycotoxins. Out of
500 currently known mycotoxins [6], only a few are
recognized as major food safety hazards. From the food safety viewpoint, the most
signi
∼
cant, themost often discussed, and thus themost frequently studied and controlled
mycotoxins are a
atoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON), T2 and HT2 toxins, zearalenone
(ZON), ochratoxin A (OTA), fumonisins, and patulin (PAT) [3]. Despite the serious
acute and/or chronic toxic effects, there are relatively large gaps in legislation for
different foodstuffs, especially comparedwith those for other toxicants such as pesticide
residues, veterinary drugs (also referred to veterinary medicinal product residues
(VMPRs)) and environmental contaminants. Additionally, the available legislation
is not harmonized worldwide and varies significantly among respective countr-
ies [7]. It is noteworthy that the standardization of regulatory limits for mycotoxins
is an extremely dif
cult task, as many factors have to be considered when making
such decisions. In addition to scienti
c factors, such as risk assessment and
analytical accuracy, economic and political factors arising from the commercial
interests of each country and the constant need for an adequate food supply also
play a role in the decision-making process.
When critically assessing the current regulatory systems, the EU probably has the
most comprehensive, well-developed, and stringent legal limits worldwide. The EU
regulation covers a wide range of various foodstuffs and rawmaterials (
50) intended
for food production and direct consumption [8]. In addition to the EU, the following
countries have at least partly established regulations for mycotoxins: Argentina,
Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Mexico,
New Zealand, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United
States. A
∼
atoxins are the only group of mycotoxins that are regulated in all of the
above-mentioned countries. A summary of the worldwide regulatory limits on
mycotoxins is available online [9]. Guidance on concentrations of representative
mycotoxins (DON, ZON, OTA, fumonisins, and a
atoxins) in feedstuffs is also
provided on the Internet [10].
8.1.2 Emerging Mycotoxins
In addition to mycotoxins already mentioned, there are many other compounds such
as ergot alkaloids, alternaria toxins, beauvericin and enniatins, moniliformin, diac-
etoxyscirpenol, nivalenol (NIV), citrinin, sterigmatocystin, and phomopsin that occur
