Cyanotoxins and Food Contamination in Developing Countries: Review of Their Types, Toxicity, Analysis, Occurrence and Mitigation Strategies

Abstract

Cyanotoxins have gained global public interest due to their potential to bioaccumulate in food, which threatens human health. Bloom formation is usually enhanced under Mediterranean, subtropical and tropical climates which are the dominant climate types in developing countries. In this context, we present an up-to-date overview of cyanotoxins (types, toxic effects, analysis, occurrence, and mitigation) with a special focus on their contamination in (sea)food from all the developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as this has received less attention. A total of 65 publications have been found (from 2000 until October 2021) reporting the contamination by one or more cyanotoxins in seafood and edible plants (five papers). Only Brazil and China conducted more research on cyanotoxin contamination in food in comparison to other countries. The majority of research focused on the detection of microcystins using different analytical methods. The detected levels mostly surpassed the provisional tolerable daily intake limit set by the World Health Organization, indicating a real risk to the exposed population. Assessment of cyanotoxin contamination in foods from developing countries still requires further investigations by conducting more survey studies, especially the simultaneous detection of multiple categories of cyanotoxins in food.

Keywords: Africa; Asia; Latin America; cyanotoxins; cylindrospermopsin; developing countries; food safety; microcystins; nodularins; seafood.

Figure 1

Chemical structure of microcystin-LR and nodularin.

Figure 2

Possible toxic effects of cyanotoxins and clinical symptoms in humans.

Figure 3

Chemical structure of guanitoxin, anatoxin-a, saxitoxins and cylindrospermopsin.

Figure 4

Geographical heatmap showing the conducted research (from 2000 until October 2021) on cyanotoxins in food (seafood and edible plants) from the developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Countries with white color are lacking data. Developing countries are defined according to their Gross National Income (GNI) per capita per year, as calculated by the World Bank Atlas method, 31 October 2020.