Main mycotoxin concerns in Europe: MYCORED and ISM efforts to harmonize strategies for their reduction in food and feed chain

Abstract

There is an urgent need to study in Europe the plant exposure to mycotoxin risk due to the identification of new toxigenic species, the continuous evolution of species profile on the food crops and climate changes that influence the quality of level of toxigenic fungi colonization of plant hosts. In particular, Fusarium and Aspergillus problem in Europe has enormous importance; recent epidemics in wheat in some areas of Northern and Central Europe and in grape in southern Europe have brought this problem into focus again. This concern has driven many efforts at EU level aimed to harmonize strategies for mycotoxinreduction in food and feed chain. This is the target of a large collaborative project of four-year duration (MYCORED as acronym), that was approved within the European FP7- Food, Agriculture, and Biotechnologies Work Programmes (www.mycored.eu). MYCORED aims to develop strategic solutions for reducing mycotoxin contamination in major crops. Novel methodologies, efficient handling procedures and information/dissemination, and educational strategies are considered in a context of multidisciplinary integration of know-how and technology to reduce mycotoxin exposure worldwide. The direct involvement of ICPC countries (Argentina, Egypt, Russia, South Africa) and international organizations (CIMMYT, IITA) together with strong scientific alliances with international experts and national and international societies for mycotoxicology is a strong point of the project through sharing experiences and resources from several past/ongoing mycotoxin projects in a global context. Similarly, the International Society for Mycotoxicology (ISM) (http://www.mycotoxsociety. org) aims at increasing scientific knowledge concerning biology, chemistry and any sciences/disciplines related to mycotoxins and toxigenic fungi, through membership networking, scientific meetings, symposia, discussions, technical courses and publications. In this context, it would be extremely important that MYCORED and ISM develop a network of cooperation-interaction with the whole scientific community in order to contribute to the efforts for harmonizing both research and legislation on mycotoxins.