What are mycotoxins and why should you test for them?
Testing food means looking for the signs of many different issues. This goes far beyond physical contaminants, and some of the problems for which quality checkers need to test are completely naturally occurring.
One such problem is that of mycotoxins, which can cause health issues both short-term and long-term. With the risks posed by these compounds being considerable yet easily preventable, there is no excuse for not thoroughly testing produce for them.
What are mycotoxins?
Mycotoxins are a product of various types of mould. As the name suggests, these compounds are poisonous to humans and animals, and can cause various adverse health effects. There are different strains of mycotoxins that can each cause different symptoms in humans.
Additionally, exposure to mycotoxins can occur through skin contact, inhalation, or—as is most likely with food—ingestion.
Various species of mould produce their own toxins, though not all moulds are harmful. Some, like those involved in the production of cheeses, are edible with little to no possible adverse health effects. This is why it’s important to test for the presence of mycotoxins themselves rather than various moulds.
Mycotoxins often survive food processing, so it cannot be assumed that they’ll be destroyed before reaching the end consumer. They can also pass on through the food chain, meaning that even if a person consumes no food with direct mycotoxin contamination, they can still be affected by the products that derive from animals that have themselves consumed the toxins.
For instance, dairy cows that consume mycotoxins can pass the compounds on in their milk.
As a result of this resilience and the strength of their various effects, testing for mycotoxins should most certainly be a cornerstone of robust quality control with modern equipment.
How do mycotoxins affect humans?
Mycotoxins have no uniform way of affecting the humans who ingest them. The ways in which mycotoxicosis manifests depends on the kind of toxin consumed.
One particular type, known as aflatoxins, are amongst the most poisonous. Consuming a large enough amount can cause damage to the liver and there is evidence that aflatoxin consumption can cause liver cancer. Other evidence suggests that aflatoxins are genotoxic, meaning they can even damage DNA.
Another strain of mycotoxin, known as patulin, causes nausea and vomiting when consumed by humans. It may also be genotoxic, like aflatoxins, but no concrete link has been established yet.
With many mycotoxins, the evidence surrounding effects on humans is lacklustre due to the legislative shortcomings of the countries most affected. However, the effects on animals is better understood, and often shown to be more disruptive and lethal.
Ochratoxin A, for example, has been clearly evidenced to cause kidney toxicity and cancer in animals, whereas its effects on humans have yet to be fully proven in the same way.
Exposure to mycotoxins can be described as either ‘acute’ or ‘chronic’. Acute poisoning symptoms will occur in a short space of time and be relatively severe, suggesting a high concentration of mycotoxins being ingested in a short space of time.
Chronic exposure suggests a lower amount of contact with the mycotoxin(s) over a longer period of time, which can present much more danger than the strong, one-off effects of acute exposure.
Chronic poisoning’s prolonged build up is more likely to cause damage to organs and cancers.
What types of food contain mycotoxins?
Many types of foods are at risk of mycotoxin presence. Since moulds can thrive on many different organic food sources, mycotoxins can also exist in these foods.
These include:
Grains and seeds such as wheat, rice, and sunflower seeds
Nuts such as peanuts, almonds, and walnuts
Dried fruits including raisins, figs, and sultanas
Spices like turmeric, coriander, and black pepper
Coffee beans
Fruit juices
Mycotoxins can also exist in foods reserved for livestock like vegetation and hay.
There is an extra element of danger in many of these foods since, despite going through processing on the manufacturer’s side, they are not cooked or otherwise prepared by the consumer. Products like nuts and dried fruits are often consumed as-is without any of the washing or cooking that foods like vegetables undergo.
Since mycotoxins are naturally occurring, it can be difficult—perhaps even impossible—to prevent them growing, particularly when given the opportunity of the warm, humid environments in which their respective fungi thrive.
Food like meat products can also be susceptible to mycotoxins. Moulds may grow on the surface of meat products in the same way that they can grow on the foods listed above, but they can also transfer through to human consumers if the animal from which the meat derived was given contaminated feed. This also applies to milk and eggs.
Why is it important to test for mycotoxins?
The dangerous effects of mycotoxins on human health may not be well evidenced, but being toxic compounds that have fatal and devastating effects on livestock—even going so far as to make animals more susceptible to other diseases and infections—it’s easy to see that they pose equally big risks to people who come into contact with them.
Testing for mycotoxins carries a multi-level kind of importance. Not least of all is the vital need to ensure that food products are safe for human health. For businesses, this might immediately translate as a financial need that protects a businesses reputation and legal standing, but there is equally a moral obligation for food producers to ensure their production is safe and sanitary.
Farmers have a very strong need for testing their harvests for mycotoxins. This is equally as important for animal feed as well as those intended for human diets, and applies to silage too. As previously established, mycotoxins can pass through animal products like milk, so ingestion doesn’t stop with the animals themselves.
In some cases, it doesn’t stop with the human consuming the meat or dairy, either. Mycotoxins can even pass through breast milk to infants, making them a health hazard that leave their effects in multiple places.
This is why it’s so important to detect the presence of mycotoxins at the earliest possible point.
Failing to monitor and control their presence can lead to runaway effects that branch out much farther than simply affecting animal health.
Climate change is thought to be influencing the prevalence of mycotoxins and therefore the risks they pose to human health. As such, testing for them will only increase in importance as their ability to thrive grows.
What legislation is there regarding mycotoxin testing?
The Food Standards Agency has developed codes of practice surrounding mycotoxins and lessening their presence in British food production. Currently, English and Welsh law uses retained EU regulations to set the limits of aflatoxin, ochratoxin A, patulin, and fusarium presence. These regulations set their maximum levels (ML).
Other regulations set by the EU and retained in UK law outline how to sample and analyse food batches when checking for mycotoxins. The regulations on ML for mycotoxins apply to imports as well as domestic production, with certain foods from certain countries of origin needing documentation to further evidence compliance.
Anybody convicted of an offence under the Contaminants in Food (England) Regulations 2010 is subject to unlimited fines, as per Level 5 on the standard scale.
What products help you test for mycotoxins?
Fortunately, testing for mycotoxins is simple and easy using modern equipment.
The Charm EZ-M Mycotoxin Reader uses lateral flow tests to quickly detect the presence of mould-born toxins in grain samples. The device incubates the test strips until they’re ready to analyse, and the results are easy to export and save onto a removable SD card.
The reader tests for some of the most common toxins, including aflatoxins and ochratoxin, and reads the colour of each respective test strip type to ensure correct calibration.
The strips themselves use the latest methods to safely test for mycotoxins without the use of harsh chemicals. Using the WET (water extraction technology) test allows toxins to be tested simply using water.
With results in mere minutes, Charm EZ-M allows on-site testing to be carried out quickly, safely, and repeatably.
Mycotoxin testing with Calibre Control
Calibre Control is a long-time supplier and expert guidance provider for food testing and quality assurance. We can guide you in sourcing and purchasing cutting-edge food testing equipment for moulds and mycotoxins, oil content, moisture, and much more. Got questions? Just ask.
To find out more about our testing solutions and to have your queries answered, simply contact us today.