These fungal metabolites are detrimental to the health of both animals and human.
Toxicity ranges from acute death to chronic diseases, cancer and reproductive malfunction.
Mycotoxin contamination of food and feed grains is a serious economic problem for grain producers and processors in the United States because grain contamination impacts markets. The fungi that produce mycotoxins in grains commonly include Fusarium , Aspergillus , and Penicillium species. The primary focus of this project is on the fusaria that infect grains. However, other mycotoxins also occur in grains and associated studies on other toxigenic fungi and their metabolites are needed to understand the overall problem of mycotoxins in cereal grains. This site also will be a resource for current news about mycotoxins.