Mitigation of Mycotoxins during Food Processing: Sharing Experience among Europe and South East Asia

Alvito, Paula; Barcelo, Jonathan; De Meester, Johan; Rito, Elias; Suman, Michele

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/7891

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Abstract(s)

Worldwide the issue of mycotoxins results in economic losses estimated at billions of dollars and toxicological risk for both humans and animals. Preventive measures also include decontamination and mitigation actions that can be carried out through food processing. Several proposals have been tested and illustrated also in scientific papers during the last decades, however clear, easy to implement, practical suggestions and guidelines for process adaptation are much more needed. Europe and South East Asia can find synergies and complementarities moving from processing to analysis, from risk assessment to reduction strategies, from gap-analysis to communication roadmaps. Stakeholders from both Europe and Southeast Asia must then ensure that there is a way to ease and harmonize the regulation in the food supply chain in order to ensure food safety and at the same time facilitate trade in both regions, taking into account of the various landscapes, agrosystems and also different consumer preferences within the countries themselves. Concerning the example of cereals, processing steps cover primary processing (cleaning and milling operations) and secondary processing procedures (such as fermentation and thermal treatments during baking), special attention is devoted to the production of baked goods and to the estimation of processing factors for DON in wheat bread production especially in Europe. With reference instead to the specific context of Asian producers, a case-study focuses on ochratoxin A in coffee in Southeast Asia region, combining the expertise of the farming community, coffee industry and science researchers. The strategy to reduce mycotoxins in a farm setting poses several challenges to coffee farmers: it needs to be analyzed in the context of good agricultural practices, socioeconomic and behavioral factors of both coffee producers and consumers. As the world becomes more globalized, food and feed supply chains also become more complexed and hence, a more comprehensive strategy to ensure food contaminants mitigation is needed.