Multi-mycotoxicosis

Abstract

Contamination of food and feeds with mycotoxins is a major problem of human and animal's health concern, and it is also extremely detrimental to economy. Mycotoxin-producing moulds may produce the most known mycotoxins, such as aflatoxins, ochratoxin, trichothecenes, zearalenone and fumonisin. Although toxicological, environmental and epidemiological studies have addressed the problem of these toxins one by one, more than one mycotoxin is found usually in the same contaminated commodities. That raises the incommensurable problem of multi-mycotoxicosis in which the respective metabolites are also involved. These mycotoxins bear potential toxicity leading to acute and chronic effects in humans and animals, depending on species. The mechanisms that lead to toxic effects, such as immune toxicity and carcinogenicity, are complex. The risk assessment for humans potentially exposed to multi-mycotoxins suffers very much from the lack of adequate food consumption data. Furthermore, for a given mycotoxin additive, synergism and antagonism with other mycotoxins found in the same food commodities are usually not taken into account