CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPACT ON MYCOTOXINS INCIDENCE AND FOOD SAFETY

Climate change may have an impact on the occurrence of food safety hazards along the entire agri-food chain, from farm to fork. The interactions between environmental factors and food contamination, food safety and foodborne diseases are very complex, dynamic and difficult to predict. Extreme weather conditions such as floods and droughts which have not occurred previously in Serbia, may be supporting factors to contamination of crops by various species of toxigenic fungi and related mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are a group of naturally occurring toxic chemical substances, produced mainly by microscopic filamentous fungal species that commonly grow on a number of crops and that cause adverse health effects when consumed by humans and animals. Recent drought and then flooding confirmed that Serbia is one of the few European countries with very high risk exposure to natural hazards, as well as that mycotoxins are one of the foodborne hazards most susceptible to climate change.

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Food safety in the face of climate change

Croatian Journal of Food Science and Technology ◽

10.17508/cjfst.2020.12.2.12 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 280-286

Author(s):

Oluwawapelumi A. Oyedele ◽

Muiz O. Akinyemi ◽

Tihomir Kovač ◽

Ukpai A. Eze ◽

Chibundu N. Ezekiel

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Food Safety ◽

Food Chain ◽

Safety Management ◽

Heat Waves ◽

Harmful Algal Bloom ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Heavy Precipitation ◽

Epidemiological Surveillance ◽

Mycotoxigenic Fungi

Food safety encompasses the elimination of biological, chemical, and physical hazards along the food chain; however, climate change, an abnormal change in weather conditions, is a threat to food safety due to irregularities in the elements of weather essential for food production. Such factors include elevated atmospheric carbon (IV) oxide (CO2), precipitation, rainfall, and temperature. Considering that the aim of food safety is to eliminate food hazards along the food chain, it is threatened by climate change in several ways, resulting in adverse effects such as severe consequences for livestock production, harmful algal bloom, mycotoxins (produced by mycotoxigenic fungi on crops), residues of pesticides and tenacious contaminants, and pathogenic microorganisms from contaminated water. These climate changes include landslides and avalanches, drought and extreme heat waves, drought, heavy precipitation, flooding and tropical storms, ocean warming, climate change related acidification, and changes in ocean salinity. Therefore, there is a great need to employ adaptive strategies such as the establishment of a food safety management programme which would expound on the need to detect food hazards in food as a result of climate change. This programme should include setting up awareness for consumers, the improvement of epidemiological surveillance, improved co-ordination among food safety organizations, public health officials, and veterinary officials, amongst others. Thus, to achieve the sustainable development goal two, of eradicating hunger, it is imperative to harness the strategies for reducing the food safety hazards associated with climate change.

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Impact of climate changes on food safety related issues in the case of Romania

SHS Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/shsconf/20219501010 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 95 ◽

pp. 01010

Author(s):

Mihaela Cristina Drăgoi ◽

Irina Gabriela Rădulescu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Food Safety ◽

Climate Changes ◽

Modern Society ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Well Being ◽

Economic Losses ◽

Main Research ◽

Temperature And Precipitation ◽

Health Related

Climate change and economic development have both an increasing impact on human health and on the quality of life. The reverse assumption is also true, since, for improving economic and social development and well-being, the human activity is affecting the environment. This paper presents some of the alarm signals of various international institutions and entities regarding several challenges the current modern society is facing: climate change, disruptive weather events, food safety implications, health related issues, economic losses. Based on previous studies which demonstrated a direct connection between climate changes and weather conditions and the outbreak of infectious diseases and threats for the food safety chain, the main research objective is to determine whether this hypothesis is also valid in the case of Romania. Thus, the conducted analysis takes into consideration variations of temperature and precipitation in relation to new cases of food-borne diseases in order to determine if this connection is statistically significant as it was in other regions of Europe and of the world previously examined by scholars.

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Effects of climate change on food safety hazards in the dairy production chain

Food Research International ◽

10.1016/j.foodres.2011.12.011 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 201-208 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

M. van der Spiegel ◽

H.J. van der Fels-Klerx ◽

H.J.P. Marvin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Food Safety ◽

Dairy Production ◽

Safety Hazards ◽

Production Chain

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Modelling climate change impacts on mycotoxin contamination

World Mycotoxin Journal ◽

10.3920/wmj2016.2066 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 717-726 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

H.J. Van der Fels-Klerx ◽

C. Liu ◽

P. Battilani

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

Fungal Species ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Aflatoxin Contamination ◽

Thermophilic Fungi ◽

Main Research ◽

Mycotoxin Contamination ◽

Toxigenic Fungi ◽

Climate Change Effects

Projected climate change effects will influence primary agricultural systems and thus food security, directly via impacts on yields, and indirectly via impacts on its safety, with mycotoxins considered as crucial hazards. Mycotoxins are produced by a wide variety of fungal species, each having their own characteristics and requirements. The geographic distribution of toxigenic fungi reflects their ecological needs, with thermophilic fungi prevalent at lower latitudes and psychrophiles at the higher latitudes. A resulting gradient of mycotoxin contamination has been repeatedly stressed. Changes in climatic conditions will lead to shifts in the fungal population and the mycotoxin patterns. In general, climate change is expected to increase mycotoxin contamination of crops, but due to the complexity of mycoflora associated to each crop and its interaction with the environment, it appears rash to draw conclusions without specific studies. Very recently first quantitative estimations of impacts of climate change on mycotoxin occurrence have been made. Two studies each applied models of different disciplines including climate projection, crop phenology and fungal/mycotoxin prediction to cereals cultivated in Europe. They were followed by a case study on climate change effects on Alternaria moulds and their mycotoxins in tomato. Results showed that DON contamination of wheat grown in Europe was, in general, expected to increase. However, variation was large, and in some years and some regions a decrease in DON contamination was expected. Regarding aflatoxin contamination of maize grown in Europe, an increase was estimated, mainly in the +2 °C scenario. Two main research gaps were identified related to the (limited) number of existing quantitative models taking into account climate change and their validation in limited areas. Efforts are therefore mandatory to be prepared for future changes and challenges on model validation and limited mycotoxin-crop combinations.

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Evaluation of food contamination in Dak Lak province from 2014 - 2018

Heavy metals and arsenic concentrations in water, agricultural soil, and rice in Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province, Vietnam ◽

10.47866/2615-9252/vjfc.81 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 44-50

Author(s):

Hoai Truong Huu ◽

Keyword(s):

Food Safety ◽

Microbial Contamination ◽

Food Contamination ◽

Contamination Rate ◽

Chemical Contamination ◽

Safety Hazards ◽

E Coli ◽

Cooking Oil

Statistics of monitoring results of food-safety hazards of Dak Lak Department of Food Safety and Hygiene from 2014 - 2018 showed that: The general food contamination rate was of 28.9%, of which microbial contamination was of 39.6%; and chemical contamination was of 20.9%. Edible ice has the highest rate of microbial contamination (90.6%); Fried cooking oil samples have the highest chemical contamination rate of 51.1%. E. coli contamination rate accounted for 66.2%; Coliforms contamination rate accounted for 53.5%. The rate of borax contamination in spring rolls was 23.4%. The ratio of fried cooking oil contaminated by friable was 51.1%. The ratio of methanol contamination in manual production alcohol was 13.7%.

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