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Review
. 2021 Jan 26;13(2):92.
doi: 10.3390/toxins13020092.

Occurrence, Impact on Agriculture, Human Health, and Management Strategies of Zearalenone in Food and Feed: A Review

Dipendra Kumar Mahato  1 , Sheetal Devi  2 , Shikha Pandhi  3 , Bharti Sharma  3 , Kamlesh Kumar Maurya  3 , Sadhna Mishra  3 , Kajal Dhawan  4 , Raman Selvakumar  5 , Madhu Kamle  6 , Awdhesh Kumar Mishra  7 , Pradeep Kumar  6
Affiliations
Review

Occurrence, Impact on Agriculture, Human Health, and Management Strategies of Zearalenone in Food and Feed: A Review

Dipendra Kumar Mahato et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Mycotoxins represent an assorted range of secondary fungal metabolites that extensively occur in numerous food and feed ingredients at any stage during pre- and post-harvest conditions. Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin categorized as a xenoestrogen poses structural similarity with natural estrogens that enables its binding to the estrogen receptors leading to hormonal misbalance and numerous reproductive diseases. ZEN is mainly found in crops belonging to temperate regions, primarily in maize and other cereal crops that form an important part of various food and feed. Because of the significant adverse effects of ZEN on both human and animal, there is an alarming need for effective detection, mitigation, and management strategies to assure food and feed safety and security. The present review tends to provide an updated overview of the different sources, occurrence and biosynthetic mechanisms of ZEN in various food and feed. It also provides insight to its harmful effects on human health and agriculture along with its effective detection, management, and control strategies.

Keywords: food and feed contamination; health issues; management strategies; zearalenone.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure of zearalenone (ZEN) and its different metabolites.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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