Aflatoxins in the Era of Climate Change: The Mediterranean Experience

Abstract

Aspergilluss sp. is a fungi that attack crops on the field or during storage. Generally, those fungi are most frequent in tropical and subtropical regions where environmental factors characterized by high humidity and temperatures are favorable for their production. Aflatoxins are produced as their secondary metabolites including aflatoxin B1. Aflatoxins have been classified as carcinogenic to human by the International Agency for Research on Cancer due to their profound health effects, mainly, hepatocarcinogenicity. Hence, they contaminate a large share of the global food chain. Traditionally, aflatoxin contamination was not frequent in temperate regions such as the Mediterranean, however, with climate change patterns including elevated temperatures, increased humidity, and increased droughts, a shift in fungal attack patterns is expected in such areas in a way that favors Aspergillus sp. infestation and aflatoxin contamination. Therefore, with increased global warming more aflatoxin contamination is expected in the Mediterranean basin, specifically, the Sothern European countries.