Mycotoxins: Risk Assessment, Biomonitoring and Toxicology

Dear Colleagues,

Human health is largely determined by diet. A recommended diet should be able to provide sufficient nu-trients and reduced levels of pathogenic microorganisms, as well as chemical contaminants. Mycotoxins are xenobiotics of biological origin, more specifically fungal, present in food, which affect animal and human health, even when consumed in subtoxic doses, due to continuous ingestion throughout life.

Mycotoxins are distributed worldwide, and given their incidence in cereals, their presence in foods derived from them is clear. In the midst of the global economy, production, storage, distribution, and marketing circuits can enhance this issue; in addition, climate change can promote the development of fungi and possible contamination by mycotoxins. 

The contamination of food by mycotoxins poses important problems for food security and public health, in particular with regard to the most vulnerable populations. These toxins, known to produce nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, immunosuppression, estrogenic properties, and carcinogenicity, are found concomitantly in food, interacting with each other, producing additive and/or synergistic effects, but they are still rarely studied.

The biggest obstacle to a reliable risk assessment is the lack of information regarding human exposure to chemical contaminants. Biomonitoring makes it possible to measure the exposure of each individual through its determination and/or its metabolites and biomarkers of effect in biological fluids or tissues.

In this sense, this Special Issue, which welcomes both original research articles and comprehensive reviews, will gather current knowledge on mycotoxins, namely their risk assessment, biomonitoring, and toxicology, including the following topics: occurrence and risk assessment, toxicology, bioaccessibility, bioavailability and reduction and biomonitoring studies. Novel methodologies to study these research topics are also en-couraged.

Dr. Liliana J.G. Silva
Guest Editor

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