• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.165-169
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• 1990

The natural occurrence of mycotoxins in food and foodstuffs and the fate of mycotoxins during food processing were investigated. Aflatoxins and /or Fusarium mycotoxins(nivalenol, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone) were detected in commercial samples of various foods and foodstuffs collected at Tokyo markets. It was found that the mycotoxins were decomposed at high temperature, but some remained after heating at usual temperatures for an ordinary period for domestic cooking(boiling, deep-frying of grilling). Industrial food manufacturing processes were relatively effective for removing mycotoxins.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.17-30
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• 1985

Mycotoxins are a group of toxicants giving a risk potential to human health in connection with the daily food intake. Food commodities once contaminated with mycotoxins can not be detoxified by any economic means and prevention was suggested as the only measure. In order to minimize the economic loss and health hazard posed by mycotoxins and toxicoses, systematic and toxicological studies on the subject should be undertaken. Most reports in Korea were concentrated on the mycological studies of relatively easy techniques and the confirmation or quantitation of mycotoxins was rarely done. Research topics to be undertaken in future may be exemplifid below: (1) Establishing assay methods for individual or multi-residue of mycotoxins (2) Monitoring of mycotoxins for suspicious food or feed samples in Korea (3) Epidemiological survey of mycotoxicoses (4) Etiological survey of disease outbreaks associated with mycotoxins (5) Accumulation of testing method and data on the toxicity of mycotoxins (6) Legal regulation to control mycotoxins and development of their detoxification / elimination methods

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.9
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• pp.1250-1260
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• 2010

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi. These toxins pose serious health concerns to animals as well as human beings. Biodegradation of these mycotoxins has been considered as one of the best strategies to decontaminate food and feedstuffs. Biodegradation employs the application of microbes or enzymes to contaminated food and feedstuffs. Ruminants are considered to be resistant to the adverse effects of mycotoxins presumably due to the biodegrading ability of rumen microbes compared to mono-gastric animals. Therefore, rumen microbial source or microbial enzyme could be a great asset in biological detoxification of mycotoxins. Isolation and characterization of pure culture of rumen microorganisms or isolation and cloning of genes encoding mycotoxin-degrading potential would prove to have overall beneficial impact in the food and feed industry.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 1990

The ability of many toxigenic fungi to invade and develop in a wide variety of raw ingredients of human diet renders human exposure to mycotoxing very difficult to avoid. Most of the energy-rich commodities, such as cereal grains, oil seeds, tree nuts, and dehydrated fruits, are susceptible to mycotoxin contamination. Mycotoxins therefare have been recognized as an important class of hazardous substances in the human food chain. Although human exposure to mycotoxins is largely through ingestion, inhalation and skin contact may also be significant under conditions other than consumption of foods. Human ingestion of mycotoxins is due to consumption of contaminated dietary ingredients and the edible tissues and products of domestic animals that have been exposed to mycotoxins in moldy feed. Large scale acute human mycotoxicoses, such as ergotism in France, alimentary toxic aleukia in Russia, yellow rice syndrome in Japan, endemic nephropathy in Balkan countries, and acute aflatoxin poisonings in India and Taiwan, have been well documented, indicating that mycotoxicosis is a global problem. In some incidents, hundreds of victims were killed and many more became seriously ill. The mycotoxins that have been implicated in the etiology of these human diseases include aflatoxins, citreoviridin, cyclopiazonic acid, ergot alkaloids, moniliformin, ochratoxin A, trichothecenes, tenuazonic acid, and zearalenone. Among these, aflatoxins have been also implicated in the etiology of human primary liver cancer in those high-incidence countries in Africa and southeast Asia. It is well recognized that cause-effect relationship between mycotoxins and human diseases is very difficult to establish, especially for the cancer connection. Careful risk assessment must be performed to determine whether a mycotoxin indeed warrants costly regulatory actions.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 1993

The chromosomal aberration of the trichothecene mycotoxins such as T-2 toxin (T-2), HT-2 toxin (HT-2), nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON) which are one of the most important food borne contaminants produced by Fusarium species fungi, was investigated in the chinese hamster lung cells. These trichothecene mycotoxins showed high cytotoxicity in order of T-2, HT-2, NIV, and DON to the chinese hamster lung cells. Nevertheless high cytotoxicity of these trichothecene mycotoxins, no clastogenicity of T-2 and HT-2 in the range of 0.01-0.0025 ng/ml, of NIV in that of 0.3-0.075ng/ml, and of DON in that of 1.0-0.25 ng/ml was observed in both with and without metabolic activation system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.723-738
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• 2011

Contamination of agricultural crops by mycotoxins results in significant economic losses for grain producers and, when consumed, it can cause reduced growth and health in a wide range of animal species. Hundreds of mycotoxin producing molds exist, however each has a different frequency and pattern of occurrence, as well as differences in the severity of the diseases (mycotoxicoses) they cause. Among the mycotoxins considered to be major contaminates are aflatoxin, deoxynivalenol, fumonisin, ochratoxin, and zearalenone. Although a multitude of species can be harmed by consumption of these mycotoxins, swine appear to be the most commonly affected commodity species. The swine industry can thus experience great losses due to the presence of mycotoxin contamination in feeds. Subsequently, recognition and prevention of mycotoxicoses is extremely important and dependent on adequate grain sampling and analysis methods pre-harvest, as well as effective strategies post-harvest to reduce consumption by animals. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the major mycotoxin contaminants in grains, to describe methods of analysis and prevention to reduce mycotoxicoses in swine and other animals, and finally to discuss how mycotoxins directly affect swine production.

• Mycobiology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.93-106
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• 2015

Alternaria species are common saprophytes or pathogens of a wide range of plants pre- and post-harvest. This review considers the relative importance of Alternaria species, their ecology, competitiveness, production of mycotoxins and the prevalence of the predominant mycotoxins in different food products. The available toxicity data on these toxins and the potential future impacts of Alternaria species and their toxicity in food products pre- and post-harvest are discussed. The growth of Alternaria species is influenced by interacting abiotic factors, especially water activity ($a_w$), temperature and pH. The boundary conditions which allow growth and toxin production have been identified in relation to different matrices including cereal grain, sorghum, cottonseed, tomato, and soya beans. The competitiveness of Alternaria species is related to their water stress tolerance, hydrolytic enzyme production and ability to produce mycotoxins. The relationship between A. tenuissima and other phyllosphere fungi has been examined and the relative competitiveness determined using both an Index of Dominance ($I_D$) and the Niche Overlap Index (NOI) based on carbon-utilisation patterns. The toxicology of some of the Alternaria mycotoxins have been studied; however, some data are still lacking. The isolation of Alternaria toxins in different food products including processed products is reviewed. The future implications of Alternaria colonization/infection and the role of their mycotoxins in food production chains pre- and post-harvest are discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2000

This study was conducted to investigate the major mycotoxins occurred during storage from apple, peat, citrus and grape. Analyses of the mycotoxins were conducted by TLC and HPLC. Patulin was only detected from apple, pear, citrus and grape infected by penicillium mycotoxins, but citrinin did not detected. The detected amount except grape ranged from $5.68{\sim}46.81\;{\mu}g/g$ in apple, $3.48{\sim}84.7\;{\mu}g/g$ in pear, $0.16{\sim}0.27\;{\mu}g/g$ in citrus, respectively. When compared to the effect of control on penicillium mycotoxins during storage in apple, pear and citrus, sodium hypochloride gas and heat at $37^{\circ}C$ treatment exhibited effective control. Especially, heat at $37^{\circ}C$ treatment exhibited 100% effective control without any injuring by treatment. In pear and citrus sodium hypochloride gas treatment caused injury by treatment.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 2015

Purpose: Fungal secondary metabolite (mycotoxin) contamination in foods can pose a serious threat to humans and animals. Spectroscopic techniques have proven to be potential alternative tools for early detection of mycotoxins. Thus, the aim of this review is to provide an overview of the current developments in nondestructive food safety testing techniques, particularly regarding fungal contamination testing in grains, focusing on the application of spectroscopic techniques to this problem. Methods: This review focuses on the use of spectroscopic techniques for the detection of fungi and mycotoxins in agricultural products as reported in the literature. It provides an overview of the characteristics of the main spectroscopic methods and reviews their applications in grain analysis. Results: It was found that spectroscopy has advantages over conventional methods used for fungal contamination detection, particularly when combined with chemometrics. These advantages include the rapidness and nondestructive nature of this approach. Conclusions: While spectroscopy offers many benefits for the detection of mycotoxins in agricultural products, a number of limitations exist, which must be overcome prior to widespread adoption of these techniques.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.23-32
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• 1993

Species of the genus Fusarium are worldwide in their distribution. They are saprophytes as soil inhabitants and parasites of cultivated plants. Some isolates of certain species car capable of producing mycotoxins. Mycotoxicoses, including moldy corn toxicosis, alimentary toxic aleukia, fusariotoxicosis, and rel mold disease are known to be associated with trichothecene-producing fungi. Historically severe epidemic of cereal scab occred in the southern part of Korea in 1963. The epidemic caused a social problem because of not only heavy economic losses but also mycotoxicoses to humans and farm animals. However the toxic principles were remained unknown until some publications in 1980's indicated that trichothecenes and zearalenone were major mycotoxins in Korea cereals contaminated with Fusarium moniliforme have been found to be associated with human and animal disease such as leukoencephalomalacia in horses, pulmonary edema in swine and esophageal cancer in humans. High concentrations of fumonisins have been detected in corn samples from high espohoageal cancer risk areas of South Africa and China. Thus fumonisins have been implicated in the etiolgy of human esophageal cancer in those high incidence countries. Recently increase of imported cereals from foreign countries demands to assess the safety of mycotoxins in Korea. The informations on the natural occurrence of mycotoxins are needed to solve the toxicological problems in humans and farm animals associated with the consumption of moldy cereals.