Mycotoxins and Mycotoxigenic Fungi: Risk and Management. A Challenge for Future Global Food Safety and Security.

Food safety is a priority for humanity. A major menace for food safety is represented by mycotoxins, toxic secondary metabolites produced by molds that infect field crops and which may contaminate raw agricultural commodities as well as processed foods and feeds. These fungal toxins exhibit a number of adverse health effects in animals, even at very low concentrations, and have been associated to cases of acute and chronic poisoning of humans and farm animals since historical times. Mycotoxins not only jeopardize the health of consumers and livestock, but they are also a concern for international trading and an important issue for national and international regulatory bodies which have to cope with the necessity to set limits for mycotoxin content in foods and feeds and harmonize standards throughout the world, taking into account both consumers' safety and social and economic impact of regulatory measures. Mycotoxin occurrence cannot be completely avoided, but a number of measures aiming at minimizing mycotoxin levels and mycotoxin exposure can be implemented at multiple point in the food and feed chains. These include pre-harvest and post-harvest strategies, guidelines for crop production, storage and processing, enforcement of guidance and regulatory maximum levels for some mycotoxins, surveillance programs and, finally, dietary interventions. This chapter offers an overview on the main mycotoxins and the relevant producing molds, including their economic and health impact, epidemiology, regulation and management. The cutting-edge challenges posed by emerging and masked mycotoxins, the co-occurrence of multiple mycotoxins and the prospects of mycotoxin outbreaks in a world climate change scenario are also discussed.