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Review
. 2023 Jul 14;12(14):2704.
doi: 10.3390/foods12142704.

Climate Change-A Global Threat Resulting in Increasing Mycotoxin Occurrence

Jovana Kos  1 , Mislav Anić  2 , Bojana Radić  1 , Manuela Zadravec  3 , Elizabet Janić Hajnal  1 , Jelka Pleadin  3
Affiliations
Review

Climate Change-A Global Threat Resulting in Increasing Mycotoxin Occurrence

Jovana Kos et al. Foods. .

Abstract

During the last decade, scientists have given increasingly frequent warnings about global warming, linking it to mycotoxin-producing moulds in various geographical regions across the world. In the future, more pronounced climate change could alter host resilience and host-pathogen interaction and have a significant impact on the development of toxicogenic moulds and the production of their secondary metabolites, known as mycotoxins. The current climate attracts attention and calls for novel diagnostic tools and notions about the biological features of agricultural cultivars and toxicogenic moulds. Since European climate environments offer steadily rising opportunities for Aspergillus flavus growth, an increased risk of cereal contamination with highly toxic aflatoxins shall be witnessed in the future. On top of that, the profile (representation) of certain mycotoxigenic Fusarium species is changing ever more substantially, while the rise in frequency of Fusarium graminearum contamination, as a species which is able to produce several toxic mycotoxins, seen in northern and central Europe, is becoming a major concern. In the following paper, a high-quality approach to a preventative strategy is tailored to put a stop to the toxicogenic mould- and mycotoxin-induced contamination of foods and feeds in the foreseeable future.

Keywords: environmental conditions; geographic regions; global warming; moulds; mycotoxins; prediction; prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Influence of different factors on the occurrence of mycotoxins worldwide.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Necessary steps to prevent an increase of mycotoxin risk in a predicted climate change scenario.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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