Food mycotoxin

Weidenbomer, M. 2001. Encyclopedia of Food Mycotoxins. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York. 

Monnet-Tschudi F, Zurich MG, Sorg O, Matthieu JM, Honegger P, Schilter B (1999) The naturally occurring food mycotoxin fumonisin B1 impairs myelin formation in aggregating brain cell culture. Neurotoxicology 20 41-48... 

Mohamed SA, Aly SA, Mohamed TM, Salah HA (2008) Immobilization of horseradish peroxidase on nonwoven polyester fabric coated with chitosan. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 144 169-179 Murphy PA, Suzanne Hendich PHD, Landgren C, Cory M (2006) Food mycotoxins an update. 

Rhizopus microsporus strains have also been described as a source of food mycotoxins. Rhizonins, such as 93 (Scheme 11), which were the first-described toxins from zygomycetes, are strongly hepatotoxic nonribosomal peptides isolated from moldy peanuts in Mozambique. Examination for the presence of bacteria again showed that a Burkholderia sp. endosymhiont is the true biosynthetic source.As with the rhizoxin (28) producer, the establishment of a pure symbiont culture was successful. 

Zurich, M.G., Lengacher, S., Braissant, 0., Monnet-Tschudi, F., Pellerin, L. Honegger, P. (2005) Unusual astrocyte reactivity caused by the food mycotoxin ochratoxin A in aggregating rat brain cell cultures. Neuroscience 134, 771-782. 

Mycotoxins. The condition produced by the consumption of moldy foods containing toxic material is referred to as mycotoxicosis. Molds and fungi fall iato this category and several derive thek toxicity from the production of oxaflc acid, although the majority of mycotoxias are much more complex. 

Product specifications for microbial food enzymes have been estabUshed by JECEA and ECC. They limit or prescribe the absence of certain ubiquitous contaminants such as arsenic, heavy metals, lead, coliforms, E. coli and Salmonella. Furthermore, they prescribe the absence of antibacterial activity and, for fungal enzymes only, mycotoxins. 

There have been compared the methods of mycotoxin control in food products with aflatoxin as an example, using both HPLC method with fluorescent detecting on the apparatus Thermo FL 3000 with a column BDS Hypersil C 2.1x150, as well as a chromatodensitometry method on the apparatus CAM AG TLS Scanner 3. 

UK Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food and Flealth and Safety Executive, Annual Report of the Working Party on Pesticide Residues in Food (1997), MAFF Publications, London, 1997. lARC, Monographs on the Evabiation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Hnmans Volume 56 Some Naturally Occurring Substances Food Items and Constituents, Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines and Mycotoxins, WFIO, Geneva, 1979, p. 397. 

Assessment of whether a chemical has the potential to cause adverse effects in humans arises usually from direct observation of an effect in animals or humans, such as the acute poisoning episodes that have occurred when potatoes contain high levels of glycoalkaloids. Epidemiological studies have also been used to infer a possible relationship between intake of a particular type of food, or constituent of that food, and the potential to cause an adverse effect. Such observations led to the characterisation of the aflatoxins as human carcinogens. However, natural toxic substances that occur in plant foods have often been identified through observations in animals, particularly farm animals. It was observations of adverse effects in farm animals that led to the further characterisation of the phytoestrogens and the mycotoxins. In other instances, the concern arises from the chemical similarity to other known toxins. 

The main concern regarding the utilization of Monascus pigments relates to the production of the citrinin mycotoxin in Monascus cultures. Several methods for controlling the mycotoxin production were proposed, including selection of non-toxinogenic strains, control of citrinin biosynthesis, and modifications of culture conditions. Despite their wide and traditional food applications in Asian countries, Monascus pigments have not been approved for use in the United States or European Union. 

In order to identify chemically the so-caUed monascidin A discussed by some Chinese scientists in their papers as a component suitable for the preservation of food, it was isolated and chemical investigations using mass spectrometry and NMR were undertaken. Monascidin A was characterized as citrinin which is known to be a mycotoxin responsible for nephropathies. Thus, in order to avoid the production of this toxin, various strains were screened in order to see whether all were toxino-genic and it was shown that among the species of Monascus available in pubhc collections, non-toxinogenic strains were obtainable. 

Much toxicological data are available on this red pigment acute oral toxicity in mice, 90-day subchronic toxicological study, acute dermal irritation and corrosion, acute eye irritation and corrosion, anti-tumor effectiveness, micronucleus test in mice, AMES test Salmonella typhimurium reverse mutation assay), estimation of antibiotic activity, and results of estimation of five mycotoxins. A new patent on Arpink Red was filed in 2001 with claims of anti-cancer effects of the anthraquinone derivatives and apphcations in the food and pharmaceutical fields. 

Mycotoxins in Agriculture and Food Safety, edited by Kaushal K. Sinha and Deepak Bhatnagar... 

Bamburg, J. R. In "Mycotoxins and Other Fungal Related Food Problems" Rodricks, J. V., Ed. ... 

However, quantitative surveys comparing the incidences of foodbome diseases and/or mycotoxin related illnesses between consumers of organic and conventional food are currently not available. This makes it difficult to compare the relative risks associated with different organic and conventional production systems. 

Wyss G (2005). Assessing the risk from mycotoxins for the organic food chain results from Organic HACCP-project and other research . In, Hovi M, Walkenhorst M and Padel S, Systems development Quality and Safety. University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK, 133-136. 

Table 17.1 Specific mycotoxins that are produced by different genera of fungi important for food safety...

Fusarium moniliforme sya verticillioides causes the so-called ear rot disease in maize and produces fumonisin B, (IB,), one of the most frequently detected mycotoxins in the food supply chain worldwide (Steyn, 1995). FBi can inhibit lipid formation, particularly in the liver. Fumonisins have been detected and investigated only relatively recently. Several structurally related forms of fumonisins (FBS) have been associated with human cancer (e.g. FB with oesophageal cancer) as well as with a host of problems in livestock fed with FB -contaminated feed (D Mello, 2003 Benbrook, 2005). 

Abramson D (1998), Mycotoxin formation and environmental factors , in Sinha K K and Bhatnagar D, Mycotoxins in Agriculture and Food Safety, Marcel Dekker, New York, 255-277. 

Benbrook, C M (2005), Breaking the mold - impacts of organic and conventional farming systems on mycotoxins in food and livestock feed , An Organic Center State of Science Review, 58 pp, www.organic-center.org. 

D Mello J P F (2003), Mycotoxins in cereal grains, nuts and other plant products , Food Safety Contaminants and Toxins, CAB International, Wallingford, 65-90. 

FAO (2004), World wide regulations for mycotoxins in food and feed in 2003 , Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. 

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