Improving Public Health Through Mycotoxin Control

Improving Public Health Through Mycotoxin Control
Author: International Agency for Research on Cancer
Publisher: IARC Scientific Publications
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9789283221586

Mycotoxins are fungal toxins that contaminate many of the most frequently consumed foods and feeds worldwide, including staple foods consumed by many of the poorest and most vulnerable populations in the world. Therefore, human and animal exposure to one or more of this broad group of toxins is widespread. Mycotoxins have the potential to contribute to a diversity of adverse health effects in humans, including cancer, even at low concentrations. Economic burdens resulting from crop contamination are added to those on health. Given the ubiquitous nature of exposure in many countries, an urgent need exists for a coordinated international response to the problem of mycotoxin contamination of food. This book aims to sensitize the international community to the mycotoxin problem in a format that is accessible to a wide audience and is useful to decision-makers across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including agriculture, public health, marketing, and economics. The editors hope that this book will be a stimulus to governments, nongovernmental and international organizations, and the private sector to initiate measures designed to minimize mycotoxin exposure in high-risk populations. The book not only provides a scientific description of the occurrence and effects of mycotoxins but also goes further by outlining approaches to reduce mycotoxin exposure aimed at improving public health in low-income countries.

Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins
Author: John F. Leslie
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2008
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1845930827

This book is an outcome of the MycoGlobe conference in Accra. Most of the chapters are based on invited oral presentations made at the conference. The chapters in this book touch on issues including health, trade, ecology, epidemiology, occurrence, detection, management, awareness and policy. This book serves as a source of information on the occurrence and impact of mycotoxins on everything from trade and health to agricultural production in addition to suggesting opportunities for their management in Africa and elsewhere by researchers, policy makers and development investors.

Fungal Toxins

Fungal Toxins
Author: Solomon Kadis
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 419
Release: 2013-10-22
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1483259684

Microbial Toxins: A Comprehensive Treatise, Volume VIII, Fungal Toxins is devoted to topics related to algal and fungal toxins and includes critically reviewed articles from different experts in related fields. The text is divided into three sections. Section A covers coumarins — its isolation, identification, biological action, natural occurrence, and uses. Section B deals with the epizootiology, clinical characteristics, and pathological findings of Stachybotryotoxicosis. Section C talks about phytopathogenic and helminthosporium toxins, toxic peptides found in Amanita species as well as other mushroom toxins, compounds accumulating in plants after an infection, and ergot. The book is recommended for microbiologists and toxicologists, especially those who would like to know more about the toxins produced by algae and fungi and their effects.

Mycotoxins in Food

Mycotoxins in Food
Author: N Magan
Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2004-07-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781855737334

Full text, included in Knovel Library within the subject area of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.

Food Security and Safety

Food Security and Safety
Author: Olubukola Oluranti Babalola
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 926
Release: 2021-09-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 303050672X

This book focuses on food security and safety issues in Africa, a continent presently challenged with malnutrition and food insecurity. The continuous increase in the human population of Africa will lead to higher food demands, and climate change has already affected food production in most parts of Africa, resulting in drought, reduced crop yields, and loss of livestock and income. For Africa to be food-secure, safe and nutritious food has to be available, well-distributed, and sufficient to meet people’s food requirements. Contributors to Food Security and Safety: African Perspectives offer solutions to the lack of adequate safe and nutritious food in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as highlight the positive efforts being made to address this lack through a holistic approach. The book discusses the various methods used to enhance food security, such as food fortification, fermentation, genetic modification, and plant breeding for improved yield and resistance to diseases. Authors emphasize the importance of hygiene and food safety in food preparation and preservation, and address how the constraints of climate change could be overcome using smart crops. As a comprehensive reference text, Food Security and Safety: African Perspectives seeks to address challenges specific to the African continent while enhancing the global knowledge base around food security, food safety, and food production in an era of rapid climate change.

Damp Indoor Spaces and Health

Damp Indoor Spaces and Health
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2004-10-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309091934

Almost all homes, apartments, and commercial buildings will experience leaks, flooding, or other forms of excessive indoor dampness at some point. Not only is excessive dampness a health problem by itself, it also contributes to several other potentially problematic types of situations. Molds and other microbial agents favor damp indoor environments, and excess moisture may initiate the release of chemical emissions from damaged building materials and furnishings. This new book from the Institute of Medicine examines the health impact of exposures resulting from damp indoor environments and offers recommendations for public health interventions. Damp Indoor Spaces and Health covers a broad range of topics. The book not only examines the relationship between damp or moldy indoor environments and adverse health outcomes but also discusses how and where buildings get wet, how dampness influences microbial growth and chemical emissions, ways to prevent and remediate dampness, and elements of a public health response to the issues. A comprehensive literature review finds sufficient evidence of an association between damp indoor environments and some upper respiratory tract symptoms, coughing, wheezing, and asthma symptoms in sensitized persons. This important book will be of interest to a wide-ranging audience of science, health, engineering, and building professionals, government officials, and members of the public.

The Environment-Animal-Human Web: A “One Health” View of Toxicological Risk Analysis

The Environment-Animal-Human Web: A “One Health” View of Toxicological Risk Analysis
Author: Chiara Frazzoli
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre:
ISBN: 2889457915

One Health (OH) is the conceptual and operational framework that links environment, food-producing organisms and human health. OH is a developing field, that deals with the multifaceted web of feed-backs and interactions among its components. In order to avoid “drowning into complexity”, priority issues should be identified, either for research and for risk analysis. To date OH approaches have frequently pivoted on infectious agents shared among animals and humans and the related problems, such as antibiotic resistance. Nevertheless, the OH scenarios include, and should increasingly include, environment-and-health problems. Food and environment do interact. Environment influences the living organisms that produce human food and, in the meanwhile, food production outputs influence the environmental quality; as for foods of animal origin, feed materials and practices are driving components of the environment-food interactions. In this book, we aimed at highlighting the importance of environment, chemical exposures and toxicological issues in the field of OH, as well as the need for multidisciplinary integration in order to support OH approaches into diseases prevention and health promotion.

Mycotoxins in Grain

Mycotoxins in Grain
Author: J. David Miller
Publisher:
Total Pages: 564
Release: 1994
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

The biosynthetic diversity of secondary metabolites; Epidemiology of fusarium ear diseases of cereals; Breeding for resistance to fusarium wheat and maize; Spectral characteristic of secondary metabolites; Penicillium and aspergillus toxins; Ecological aspects of growth and mycotoxin production by storage fungi; Alternaria toxins; Immunotoxic effects of mycotoxins; Toxicology of mycotoxins; Residues in food products of animal origin; Decontamination of fusarium mycotoxins; Prevention of human mycotozicoses through risk assessment and risk management; Factors responsible for economic losses due to fusarium mycotoxin contamination of grains, foods, and feedstuffs; Diseases in humans with mycotoxins as possible causes.

Aflatoxin

Aflatoxin
Author: Lukman Abdulra'Uf
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2017-08-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9535134574

Aflatoxins are a group of highly toxic and carcinogenic substances, which occur naturally, and can be found in food substances. Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites of certain strains of the fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus and the less common A. nomius. Aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 are the most important members, which can be categorized into two groups according to the chemical structure. As a result of the adverse health effects of mycotoxins, their levels have been strictly regulated especially in food and feed samples. Therefore, their accurate identification and determination remain a Herculean task due to their presence in complex food matrices. The great public concern and the strict legislation incited the development of reliable, specific, selective, and sensitive analytical methods for pesticide monitoring that are discussed in this book.