Ruminant diets include cereals, protein feeds, their by-products as well as hay and grass, grass/legume, whole-crop maize, small grain or sorghum silages. Furthermore, ruminants are annually or seasonally fed with grazed forage in many parts of the World. All these forages could be contaminated by several exometabolites of mycotoxigenic fungi that increase and diversify the risk of mycotoxin ex...

The following is a review of some of the work that we have done since 2007 regarding the importance of molds in the phenomenon of sick building syndrome (SBS). In these studies we first examined mold contamination in air handling units (AHU). Our results showed that Cladosporium sp. were commonly recovered in AHU as growth sites and free spores. They were found mainly on the blower wheel fan bl...

Food safety organizations indicate the likelihood of constant human and animal exposure to mycotoxin mixtures as a possible negative public health impact. Risk assessment demonstrates that certain mycotoxins of Aspergillus and Penicillium spp. are toxic and hold a significant genotoxic efficacy at nanomolar concentrations. The aim of the current study was to investigate the potential cytogeneti...

Mycotoxins are unavoidable contaminants of food grains, feeds, medicinal herbs, and spices, posing as health threat to animals and humans. The objective of this study was to screen medicinal herbs and spices for fungi and mycotoxin contamination and evaluate their safety. Sixty-three samples were examined for fungal contamination and fungal load determined using standard microbiological method....

Black tea theafulvins, a fraction of thearubigins isolated from black tea aqueous infusions, potentiated the mutagenic activity of the mycotoxin aflatoxin B(1) in the Ames test, in the presence of a hepatic S9 activation system derived from Aroclor 1254-treated rats. In contrast, when the S9 activation system was replaced with isolated microsomes, theafulvins suppressed the mutagenicity of the ...

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring contaminants whose presence in food- and feedstuffs cannot be completely avoided. The safety and economic impact arising from the commercialization of mycotoxin-contaminated food and feed supply chain is considerable and acknowledged. To protect consumers from mycotoxin-derived health risks, many countries have adopted regulations or guidelines to limit exposu...

SUMMARY Mycotoxin contamination of food and feed presents a serious food safety issue on a global scale, causing tremendous yield and economic losses. These toxins, produced largely by members of the genera Aspergillus and Fusarium, represent a subset of the impressive array of secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi. Some secondary metabolites are associated temporally and function...

From 1999-2001 three different varieties of wheat [Contur (susceptible to Fusarium), Batis and Petrus (less susceptible to Fusarium)] were cultivated under organic and conventional conditions in order to determine mycotoxin burden. Soil quality, preceding crop and weather conditions were comparable in the different production systems. The wheat batches were analysed for moulds, and the contents...

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of a feed additive containing bentonite and enzymatically hydrolyzed yeast on intestinal health growth newly weaned pigs under chronic dietary exposure fumonisin aflatoxin. Newly were randomly allotted one four possible treatments: control diet conventional corn; corn contaminated with aflatoxin; mycotoxin-contaminated 0.2% additive; mycotoxin 0.4% a...

Beauvericin is a cyclic hexadepsipeptide mycotoxin, which has insecticidal, antimicrobial, antiviral and cytotoxic activities. It is a potential agent for pesticides and medicines. This paper reviews the bioactivity, fermentation and biosynthesis of the fungal product beauvericin.