Analytical strategies for the quantitative evaluation of naturally ocurring targeted toxins in plant-­‐derived foods

S. CERUTTI

Rosario - Santa Fe

Simposio; 2nd Latin American Metabolic Profiling Symposium 2016; 2016

Latin American Profiling Society

Food safety is a matter of global importance. Due to the changes in climatic conditions and environmental pollution, new toxic agents are identified and new toxic effects recognized. Therefore, the health and trade consequences of toxic chemicals in food also have global implications. Surveillance studies have shown that mycotoxin (poisonous, low molecular weight, secondary metabolites of molds) contamination is a world-wide problem, especially in developing countries, where suitable cultivation, processing and storage technologies are implemented with difficulty. In recent times, exposure to mycotoxins that can be found scattered in the environment has become a cause of growing concern. Soil, water, and air might be contaminated with outdoor environment from naturally occurring metabolites of fungal species that grow on a wide variety of crops or indoor environments from molds that can grow on various substrates. In this context, ensuring food safety requires new methods for identification, monitoring and assessing of foodborne hazards during production, storage, delivery and consume. The use of metabolomics for the identification of biomarkers of the most relevant toxins that have been detected in this type of environment and their monitoring yields a more accurate risk assessment. This presentation will summarize research and ongoing challenges on the development of analytical approaches based on mass spectrometry to successfully perform high-level research in the area of quantitative evaluation and monitoring of targeted mycotoxins relevant to the food and agricultural industry.