Mycotoxins food contamination related

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). 

In spite of the fact that contamination of cereals and grains and related products with mycotoxins causes food and feed-bome intoxications in man and livestock, zearalenone in low concentrations can be treated as a plant hormone which influences the development and yield of crop plants (Biesaga-Koscielniak 2001). This review focuses on the effect of low doses of zearalenone on the stimulation of selected physiological processes in plants important for agriculture production. 

Bhat, R.V. and Vasanthi, S. 1999. Mycotoxin contamination of foods and feeds. Overview, occurrence and economic impact on food availability, trade, exposure of farm animals and related economic losses. ftp //ftp.fao.org/es/esn/food/myco4a.pdfMay, 13, 2004. 

It is a measure of the degree of concern about mycotoxins that a great deal of effort has been expended in increasing the sensitivity and specificity of methods of analysis. Knowledge about the ecology of mycotoxin production and the extent of mycotoxin contamination of food and feeds is usually related to the availability of analytical methods suitable for repetitive wide-ranging screens. Although such methods are available for aflatoxin, zearalenone and ochratoxin, they... 

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