Risk-benefit assessment in foods: a case study involving mycotoxins

State of the art. Data from a recent Portuguese national project that studied the toxic effects of children exposure (under 3 years old) to multiple mycotoxins in infant foods (MYCOMIX) reported the co-occurrence of 21 mycotoxins and metabolites present in breakfast cereals primarily marketed for children. This study showed that 96% of the analyzed breakfast cereal samples were contaminated with mycotoxins1,2. The output of this project also highlighted the knowledge gaps on the contra-balance beneficial health effect of these foods, and the need to determine the risk-benefit balance, since the evaluated food products, namely breakfast cereals, are simultaneously recognized vehicles of food components, like nutrients, vitamins and water soluble and insoluble fibers, which could be assumed as beneficial for children health.