Special Issue "Mycotoxins in Food and Feed"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Wayne L. Bryden
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Gatton Qld 4343, Australia
E-Mail: w.bryden@uq.edu.au

Dear Colleagues,

Fungi are ubiquitous and all human food and animal feed can become contaminated with mycotoxins. Formation of mycotoxins is not restricted to any component of the human food or animal feed supply chains and the level of contamination varies with location and reflects agronomic practices, climate and storage conditions and an array of physical, chemical and biological factors. Globally, mycotoxins have significant human and animal health, economic and international trade implications. This has significant consequences in both developed and developing countries. In developing countries the primary concern with mycotoxin contamination is human health and the impact on animal health and production is the second major concern. In contrast to developed economies, where the additional costs to the producer and/or the consumer to meet the economic burden of regulating the food and feed supply is the major mycotoxin concern, followed by the impact on animal health and production
Most mycotoxins are very stable chemically and once formed will continue to contaminate that commodity and foods or feeds manufactured from it. Mycotoxins present a major analytical challenge due to the range of chemical compounds that they represent and the array of food and feed matrices in which they are found. There are a number of areas of mycotoxin analysis that require further study and refinement, including commodity sampling techniques, conjugated toxin determination and field screening of commodities, especially cereal grains.. Analysis is essential for determining the occurrence and extent of mycotoxin contamination, for risk analysis, confirming the diagnosis of a mycotoxicosis and for monitoring mycotoxins in traded commodities and for evaluating mitigation strategies. Importantly, mycotoxins are naturally occurring compounds which will pose an ongoing threat to food and feed security and the risk of occurrence may be aggravated by climate change, In this special issue, papers describing the occurrence and mitigation of mycotoxins in human food and animal feed would be most welcome along with papers covering pertinent global mycotoxin topics.

Prof. Dr. Wayne L. Bryden
Guest Editor

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• mycotoxins
• fungal ecology
• mycotoxin occurrence
• mycotoxin analysis
• mycotoxin mitigation
• risk assessment
• economics and trade
• climate change
• food/feed security

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Modulation of Intestinal Functions through the Mycotoxin Ingestion
Authors: Bertrand Grenier ^1,2 and Todd J. Applegate ¹
Affiliations: ¹ Department of Animal Sciences Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA; E-Mails: bgrenier67@gmail.com (B.G.); applegt@purdue.edu (T.J.A.)
² Biomin Research Center, Tulln 3430, Austria
Abstract: Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi that can cause serious health problems in animals, and may result in severe economic losses. Deleterious effects of these feed contaminants in animals are well documented, ranging from growth impairment, decreased resistance to pathogens, hepato- & nephrotoxicity to death. By contrast, data with regard to their impact on intestinal functions and integrity are more limited. However, intestinal cells are the first cells to be exposed to mycotoxins, and often at higher concentrations than other tissues. In addition, mycotoxins specifically target high protein turnover- & activated-cells, which are predominant in gut epithelium. Therefore, intestinal investigations have gained significant interest over the last decade, and some publications have demonstrated that mycotoxins are able to compromise several key functions of the gastro-intestinal tract, including decreased surface area available for nutrient absorption, modulation of nutrient transporters, and loss of barrier function. Similarly, it has been recently suggested that some mycotoxins are able to potentiate intestinal inflammation, and would induce intestinal alterations similar to those observed in inflammatory bowel diseases. By contrast, effect of these fungal metabolites on the intestinal microbiota is largely unknown. In this review, we will mainly focus on mycotoxins which are of concern in terms of occurrence and toxicity, namely: Aflatoxins, Ochratoxin A and some Fusarium toxins. In vitro, ex vivo and in vivo approaches will be considered, with a special attention to the effects of low doses. This review will include several tables to summarize the outcomes of studies.