INDUSTRY CONCERNS WITH REGARD TO NATURALLY OCCURRING TOXINS

ISHS Acta Horticulturae 207: Naturally Occuring Toxins in Horticultural Food Crops, XXII IHC

INDUSTRY CONCERNS WITH REGARD TO NATURALLY OCCURRING TOXINS

Author:

Marvin N. Kragt

Abstract:
We, in industry, are deeply concerned about the naturally occurring toxins which might be found in many agriculture commodities and in some food products. Because of our many disciplines in horticulture research, academia, or in industry quality assurance systems for manufacturing, and also as consumers, we are well aware of the potential contamination by molds; many of which are capable of producing mycotoxins on fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and cured meats or the food products made from any of these agriculture commodities. Many of these food products presently whet the national appetite in forms of ball game peanuts, peanut butter sandwiches, fruit juices, bread, cheese, frozen pastries, sausage and the list goes on.

Molds are members of a group of primitive plant-like organisms called fungi, for which there are over 400 000 species. Mycotoxins are substances (metabolites--by products) produced by molds which may be toxic or have other adverse effects in living organisms, especially animals and/or humans. The term mycotoxin comes from a Greek word, "Mykes", meaning fungus and the Latin word, "Toxicum", meaning poison or toxin. Fungus toxin or poison. Mycotoxins exhibit properties of acute, sub-acute, and chronic toxicities in animals with some being cancer causing. Some mycotoxins are mutagenic, capable of causing mutations in susceptible organisms and terotogenic, capable of causing deformities in developing embryos. Poisoning caused by ingestion of a food or feed that contains a mycotoxin is called mycotoxicosis. Mycotoxicoses have threatened animal health for years.

In Japan, in the early 1900's, yellow rice caused serious liver damage in animals and was associated with beri beri in humans. The yellow rice contained a number of Penicillium molds.
In 1960, a severe toxic outbreak among farm animals occurred in England which became known as "Turkey X Disease" because of the involvement in a large number of turkey poults. Ducks and calves were also affected. Peanut meal which had been heavily infested with the common storage mold Aspergillus flavus was the cause. From this study on the feed was discovered the series of compounds which fluoresced under the ultraviolet light. These compounds were similar to fluorescent compounds that were initially obtained from a culture of A. flavus which had caused toxicosis of ducklings, and which were named aflatoxins for A. flavus toxins.
There was also an outbreak of liver cancer in trout in fish hatcheries in the U.S. at about the same time which was related to aflatoxin contaminated cottonseed meal used in the fish feed.
We have records of mycotoxicoses affecting human health as far back as the Middle Ages in Europe known as ergotism or St. Anthony's Fire. This disease was reported in France in 1951. This fungus

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