Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health
Abstract
Mycotoxins are fungal metabolites that are present in a large part of the world food supply and bear potential threat to food safety. The European Union has been working for several years now on the harmonization of some mycotoxin standards for foods based on toxicological evaluation by its Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). These standards will follow the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle and will be applied to aflatoxins in the first place followed by ochratoxin A, patulin, and several toxins from Fusarium spp. Detailed regulations (limits, methods of sampling, and analysis) for aflatoxins B, G, and M on the commodities at stake have been worked out. At the moment, a variety of interrelated approaches as to the intake and toxicity of ochratoxin A are being discussed to assess the hazards and to determine the associated risk of this toxin. The other toxins like patulin and the ones derived from Fusarium spp. such as zearalenon and fumonisins will be discussed in the years to come.Mikotoksini su potencijalno opasni gljivični metaboliti koji su prisutni u mnogim prehrambenim proizvodima. Europska unija već nekoliko godina radi na usklađivanju normi za mikotoksine u hrani koje se zasnivaju na toksikološkoj procjeni Znanstvenog odbora za hranu (engl. Scientific Committee on Food). Ove će norme slijediti načelo razumnog minimuma te će se odnositi prije svega na aflatoksine, okratoksin A, patulin i nekoliko drugih toksina iz vrsta Fusarium. Upravo se donose precizne uredbe (glede ograničenja, metoda uzorkovanja i analize) u svezi s aflatoksinima B, G i M. Trenutno se raspravlja o različitim međusobno povezanim pristupima unosu i toksičnosti okratoksina A kako bi se procijenila opasnost i rizici vezani za ovaj toksin. Tek slijedi rasprava o patulinu odnosno toksinima iz vrsta Fusarium kao što su zearalenon i fumonizini
