Post-harvest control strategies: minimizing mycotoxins in the food chain.
By Naresh Magan, D. Aldred. Journal of food microbiology, 2007
664 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Contamination of cereal commodities by moulds and mycotoxins results in dry matter, quality, and nutritional losses and represents a significant hazard to the food chain. Most grain is harvested, dried and then stored on farm or in silos for medium/long term storage. Cereal quality is influenced by a range of interacting abiotic and biotic factors. In the so-called stored grain ecosystem, factors include grain and contaminant mould respiration, insect pests, rodents and the key environmental factors of temperature, water availability and intergranular gas composition, and preservatives which are added to conserve moist grain for animal feed. Thus knowledge of the key critical control points during harvesting, drying and storage stages in the cereal production chain are essential in developing effective prevention strategies post-harvest. Studies show that very small amounts of dry matter loss due to mould activity can be tolerated. With <0.5% dry matter loss visible moulding, mycotoxin contamination and downgrading of lots can occur. The key mycotoxigenic moulds in partially dried grain are Penicillium verrucosum (ochratoxin) in damp cool climates of Northern Europe, and Aspergillus flavus (aflatoxins), A. ochraceus (ochratoxin) and some Fusarium species (fumonisins, trichothecenes) on temperate and tropical cereals. Studies on the ecology of these species has resulted in modelling of germination, growth and mycotoxin minima and prediction of fungal contamination levels which may lead to mycotoxin contamination above the tolerable legislative limits (e.g. for ochratoxin). The effect of modified atmospheres and fumigation with sulphur dioxide and ammonia have been attempted to try and control mould spoilage in storage. Elevated CO2 of >75% are required to ensure that growth of mycotoxigenic moulds does not occur in partially dried grain. Sometimes, preservatives based on aliphatic acids have been used to prevent spoilage and mycotoxin contamination of stored commodities, especially feed. These are predominantly fungistats and attempts have been made to use alternatives such as essential oils and anti-oxidants to prevent growth and mycotoxin accumulation in partially dried grain. Interactions between spoilage and mycotoxigenic fungi and insect pests inevitably occurs in stored grain ecosystems and this can further influence contamination with mycotoxins. Effective post-harvest management of stored commodities requires clear monitoring criteria and effective implementation in relation to abiotic and biotic factors, hygiene and monitoring to ensure that mycotoxin contamination is minimised and that stored grain can proceed through the food chain for processing.
Subfields: Biotechnology, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Plant Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c01fbdc38ae34123a7ddbf19fbfb5554dce77646
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Citations in the corpus
- Resilience of local food systems and links to food security – A review of some important concepts in the context of COVID-19 and other shocks (2020, background): “Table 3 Examples of indicators susceptible to be used to assess long-term outcomes of food system resilience Indicators of long-term outcomes Food security dimensions Actors Household Food Insecurity Access Scale a Food Access Any consumers within the food system Household Dietary Diversity Scores b”
- Climate change, food security and mycotoxins: Do we know enough? (2017, background): “…interactions on growth and mycotoxin production Over the last three decades work has been focused on the impact that aw x temperature factors have on growth and mycotoxin production by a wide range of mycotoxigenic fungi (Sanchis and Magan, 2004; Magan and Aldred, 2007a; Magan et al., 2010).”
- Biological control strategies of mycotoxigenic fungi and associated mycotoxins in Mediterranean basin crops (2012, background): “…in disinfected and hygienic silos or warehouses that are free of pests and fungal inocula c) traceability during storage and transport for processing d) representative sampling and effective diagnostic tools that can be used to monitor and quantify mycotoxins rapidly (Magan and Aldred, 2007).”