MycoKey: A European project for mycotoxin management along various food and feed chains.

The use of good agricultural practices is a key issue to minimise the risk of mycotoxin accumulation in crops. Before harvest such practices include crop rotation, tillage, appropriate fertilisation as well as fungicides or biological control, less susceptible varieties, timely harvests and control of insects, which often facilitate toxigenic fungi infection. On the other hand, the reduction of mycotoxins along the agro-food chains depends also on post-harvest management that aims at the separation of contaminated crop products from healthy material. Therefore, the use of different tools such as manual sorting or optical sensors is of crucial importance for reducing the level of mycotoxin contamination. Moreover, it is essential to prevent post-harvest contamination and to develop practical and effective post-harvest procedures for mycotoxin reduction in food and feed supply chains and to provide alternative and safe use options for contaminated batches. A review will be given on integrated pre-and post-harvest practices to minimise the risk of mycotoxin contamination of various important crops and the search for effective solutions, including the MycoKey app, proposed and developed within the EU project MycoKey (http://www.mycokey.eu/). As part of this project, a Mycotoxin Charter (charter.mycokey.eu) was launched to share information required for global harmonisation of mycotoxin legislation and policies and to minimise human and animal exposure worldwide, with special focus on less developed countries that lack effective legislation.