Mycotoxins, toxic secondary metabolites produced by certain fungi, pose significant threats to global food safety and public health. These compounds can contaminate a variety of crops, leading to economic losses and health risks to both humans and animals. Traditional lab analysis methods for mycotoxin detection can be time-consuming and may not always be suitable for large-scale screenings. However, in recent years, machine learning (ML) methods have gained popularity for use in the detection of mycotoxins and in the food safety industry in general due to their accurate and timely predictions. We provide a systematic review on some of the recent ML applications for detecting/predicting the presence of mycotoxin on a variety of food ingredients, highlighting their advantages, challenges, and potential for future advancements. We address the need for reproducibility and transparency in ML research through open access to data and code. An observation from our findings is the frequent lack of detailed reporting on hyperparameters in many studies and a lack of open source code, which raises concerns about the reproducibility and optimisation of the ML models used. The findings reveal that while the majority of studies predominantly utilised neural networks for mycotoxin detection, there was a notable diversity in the types of neural network architectures employed, with convolutional neural networks being the most popular.

In the realm of plant biology and agriculture, seed germination serves as a fundamental process with far-reaching implications for crop production and environmental health. This comprehensive review seeks to unravel the intricate web of interactions between some biotic stressors and seed germination, addressing the pertinent issue of how these stressors influence seed germination. Different chemicals produced by interacting plants (different parts), fungi, bacteria, or insects can either promote or inhibit seed germination. Releasing chemicals that modulate signaling pathways and cellular processes significantly disrupt essential cellular functions. This disruption leads to diverse germination outcomes, introducing additional layers of complexity to this regulatory landscape. The chemicals perturb enzyme activity and membrane integrity, imposing unique challenges on the germination process. Understanding the mechanisms- how allelochemicals, mycotoxins, or bacterial toxins affect seed germination or the modes of action holds promise for more sustainable agricultural practices, enhanced pest control, and improved environmental outcomes. In sum, this review contributes to a fundamental exposition of the pivotal role of biotic stressors in shaping the germination of seeds.

The first stages of human life, which include the fetal period, infancy, and early childhood, are the most critical for human growth and development. This is the most vulnerable phase to health challenges due to the immature immune system and rapid development. Mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, patulin, fumonisins, zearalenone, and deoxynivalenol are secondary metabolites secreted by various fungal species, primarily Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, and Alternaria. Aflatoxins are one of the major mycotoxins produced in cereals and cereal-based foods by several species of Aspergillus, mainly Aspergillus flavus. In this context, this review provides a brief overview of the occurrence, exposure, legal regulations, and health effects of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2, and M1) in cereal-based baby foods and breast milk.
Human aflatoxin exposure in utero and through breast milk, infant formulas, cereals, and cereal-based foods has been linked to various health consequences, including adverse birth outcomes, impaired growth and development, immune system suppression, and hepatic dysfunction. Recent evidence suggests that especially infants and children are more susceptible to aflatoxins due to their lower body weight, lowered capacity to detoxify harmful substances, more restrictive diet, immature metabolism and elimination, and faster rates of growth and development. It is essential for both food safety and infant and child health that aflatoxins in cereal and cereal-based products are precisely detected, detoxified, and managed.

Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites of molds which can contaminate food and beverages. Because of their acute and chronic toxicity, they can have harmful effects when ingested or inhaled, posing severe risks to human health. Contemporary analytical methods have the sensitivity required for contamination detection and quantification, but the direct application of these methods on real samples is not straightforward because of matrix complexity, and clean-up and preconcentration steps are needed, more and more requiring the application of highly selective solid-phase extraction materials. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are artificial receptors mimicking the natural antibodies that are increasingly being used as a solid phase in extraction methods where selectivity towards target analytes is mandatory. In this review, the state-of-the-art about molecularly imprinted polymers as solid-phase extraction materials in mycotoxin contamination analysis will be discussed, with particular attention paid to the use of mimic molecules in the synthesis of mycotoxin-imprinted materials, to the application of these materials to food real samples, and to the development of advanced extraction methods involving molecular imprinting technology.

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds that pose a serious threat to animal health and food safety. Therefore, there is an urgent need for safe and efficient methods of detoxifying mycotoxins. As biotechnology has continued to develop, methods involving biological enzymes have shown great promise. Biological enzymatic methods, which can fundamentally destroy the structures of mycotoxins and produce degradation products whose toxicity is greatly reduced, are generally more specific, efficient, and environmentally friendly. Mycotoxin-degrading enzymes can thus facilitate the safe and effective detoxification of mycotoxins which gives them a huge advantage over other methods. This article summarizes the newly discovered degrading enzymes that can degrade four common mycotoxins (aflatoxins, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, and ochratoxin A) in the past five years, and reveals the degradation mechanism of degrading enzymes on four mycotoxins, as well as their positive effects on animal production. This review will provide a theoretical basis for the safe treatment of mycotoxins by using biological enzyme technology.

Mycotoxins frequently contaminate a variety of food items, posing significant concerns for both food safety and public health. The adverse consequences linked to poisoning from these substances encompass symptoms such as vomiting, loss of appetite, diarrhea, the potential for cancer development, impairments to the immune system, disruptions in neuroendocrine function, genetic damage, and, in severe cases, fatality. The deoxynivalenol (DON) raises significant concerns for both food safety and human health, particularly due to its potential harm to vital organs in the body. It is one of the most prevalent fungal contaminants found in edible items used by humans and animals globally. The presence of harmful mycotoxins, including DON, in food has caused widespread worry. Altered versions of DON have arisen as possible risks to the environment and well-being, as they exhibit a greater propensity to revert back to the original mycotoxins. This can result in the buildup of mycotoxins in both animals and humans, underscoring the pressing requirement for additional investigation into the adverse consequences of these modified mycotoxins. Furthermore, due to the lack of sufficient safety data, accurately evaluating the risk posed by modified mycotoxins remains challenging. Our review study delves into conjugated forms of DON, exploring its structure, toxicity, control strategies, and a novel animal model for assessing its toxicity. Various toxicities, such as acute, sub-acute, chronic, and cellular, are proposed as potential mechanisms contributing to the toxicity of conjugated forms of DON. Additionally, the study offers an overview of DON\'s toxicity mechanisms and discusses its widespread presence worldwide. A thorough exploration of the health risk evaluation associated with conjugated form of DON is also provided in this discussion.

Exposure to mycotoxins such as aflatoxins can endanger human health, especially infants and children. In this study, an attempt was made to retrieved studies related to the concentration of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) and ochratoxin A (OTA). Search was performed in international databases such as Embase, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for the period 1 January 2010 to 20 February 2023. Then, the pooled concentration in the defined subgroups was calculated using meta-analysis and the health risk assessment was conducted by margin of exposure (MOEs). Thirty-one scientific papers with 34 data reports (Sample size=2,277) were included in our study. The lowest and highest prevalence of AFM1 in cheese was related to El Salvador (12.18 %) and Serbia (100.00 %). The pooled prevalence of AFM1 was 49.85 %, 95 %CI (37.93-61.78 %). The lowest and highest prevalence of OTA in cheese was related to Türkiye (6.67 %) and Italy (44.21 %). The pooled prevalence of OTA was 35.64 %, 95 %CI (17.16-56.44 %). Health risk of AFM1 revealed that except Pakistan and Iran, MOE in the other countries was lower than 10,000 for adults and also except Pakistan, MOE for other countries was lower than 10,000 for children. Health risk of OTA revealed that except Greece, MOE in the other countries was higher than 10,000 for adults and also except Germany and Greece, MOE for other countries was higher than 10,000 for children. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct control plans to reduce the concentration of mycotoxins in cheese, especially AFM1.

Fusarium dry rot is one of the major potato diseases during storage after harvest, which not only results in quality degradation but also causes great economic losses. The disease can be elicited by some species of Fusarium, and the pathogenic fungi of Fusarium causing potato dry rot are considerably diverse in various countries and regions. The disease caused by Fusarium spp. is associated with mycotoxins accumulation, which has phytotoxic and mycotoxic effects on humans and animals. Chemical synthetic fungicide is considered the main control measure for the Fusarium dry rot of potato; nevertheless, it is unfortunate that persistent application inevitably results in the emergency of a resistant strain and environmental contamination. A comprehensive disease control strategy includes potato cultivar selection, appropriate cultural practices (crop rotation, cultivate pattern, fertilization, and irrigation), harvesting processes and postharvest treatments (harvesting, classification, packaging, wound healing), and storage conditions (environmental disinfection, temperature, humidity and gas composition) along with the application of fungicide pre-harvest or post-harvest. Recently, emerging studies have indicated that eco-friendly strategies include physical control, chemical methods (such as the application of generally-recognised-as-safe (GRAS) compounds or chemical (elicitors) and biological control have been introduced to combat the Fusarium dry rot of potato.

Food safety is a widespread global concern with the emergence of foodborne diseases. Thus, establishing accurate and sensitive detection methods of harmful contaminants in different food matrices is essential to address and prevent the associated health risks. Among various analytical tools, mass spectrometry (MS) can quantify multiple impurities simultaneously due to high resolution and accuracy and can achieve non-target profiling of unknown pollutants in food. Therefore, MS has been widely used for determination of hazardous contaminants [e.g., mycotoxin, pesticide and veterinary drug residues, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, acrylamide, perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and p-Phenylenediamine compounds (PPDs) in food samples]. This work summarizes MS applications in detecting harmful contaminants in food matrices, discusses advantages of MS for food safety study, and provides a perspective on future directions of MS development in food research. With the persistent occurrence of novel contaminants, MS will play a more and more critical role in food analysis.

Trichothecenes are the most common Fusarium toxins detected in grains and related products. Type A trichothecenes are among the mycotoxins of greatest concern to food and feed safety due to their high toxicity. Recently, two different trichothecene genotypes within Fusarium species were reported. The available information showed that Tri1 and Tri16 genes are the key determinants of the trichothecene profiles of T-2 and DAS genotypes. In this review, polymorphisms in the Tri1 and Tri16 genes in the two genotypes were investigated. Meanwhile, the functions of genes involved in DAS and NEO biosynthesis are discussed. The possible biosynthetic pathways of DAS and NEO are proposed in this review, which will facilitate the understanding of the synthesis process of trichothecenes in Fusarium strains and may also inspire researchers to design and conduct further research. Together, the review provides insight into trichothecene profile differentiation and Tri gene evolutionary processes responsible for the structural diversification of trichothecene produced by Fusarium.