Mycotoxin surveillance in Australia

✍ Scribed by B. J. Blaney

• Book ID: 102871204
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 652 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0260-437X
• DOI: 10.1002/jat.2550020206

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The occurrence of mycotoxicoses in Australia has been reviewed with an emphasis on cases of aflatoxicosis. Most surveys for aflatoxins in feedstuffs have concentrated on obviously mouldy material, or peanut by‐products, which appear to be the most frequently contaminated in Australia. Aflatoxins have been detected in most agricultural products. Ochratoxin and zearalenone are produced by Australian fungal isolates, but little information has been obtained on the field occurrence of these or other mycotoxins. The history of efforts by various food production industries to eliminate aflatoxins from their products is traced, as is the progress of formulation of regulations to limit aflatoxin concentrations in human foods and animal feeds. It is suggested that some exposure of humans to mycotoxins may arise from situations of mould growth in foods at the retail level or in the consumer's home, and thus be largely beyond the control of present surveillance methods.