Novel Approaches to Minimising Mycotoxin Contamination

Dear Colleagues,

Contamination of foods and agricultural commodities by various types of toxigenic fungi is a concerning issue. Moulds naturally present in foods can produce mycotoxins and contaminate foodstuffs under favourable conditions of temperature, relative humidity, pH and nutrient availability.

Mycotoxins are, in general, stable molecules, which are difficult to remove from foods once they have been produced. Therefore, the prevention of mycotoxins contamination is one of the main goals of the agriculture and food industries.

Chemical control or decontamination techniques may be quite efficient. However, the more sustainable and restricted use of fungicides, the lack of efficiency in some foods, and the consumers demand of chemical residue-free foods require new approaches. Therefore, food safety demands permanent research efforts for exploring new strategies to reduce mycotoxin contamination.

This Special Issue focuses on describing effective strategies to minimise the presence of major and emerging mycotoxins in both animal and vegetable foods, with particular interest but not limited to the following:

a) Biocontrol strategies including microorganism producers of antifungal compounds, or those that are able to compete for space and nutrients;

b) Detoxification technologies such as chemical removal, physical binding, or biological degradation of mycotoxins;

c) Use of plants and plant extracts to inhibit fungal growth or mycotoxin production;

d) Improved packaging materials and storage;

e) Mechanisms of action of antifungal agents;

f) Review articles about this topic.

Prof. Mar Rodriguez
Dr. Félix Núñez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.