Mycotoxins-Biomonitoring and Human Exposure

Area of Science:

• Food safety and toxicology
• Environmental health
• Analytical chemistry

Background:

• Mycotoxins, toxic fungal metabolites, pose risks to human and animal health via food, occupational, and environmental exposure.
• Contaminated foodstuffs are primary sources, but workplace and environmental routes also significantly contribute to exposure.
• Biomonitoring of mycotoxins in biological samples is essential for assessing exposure levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the occurrence of toxigenic fungi and regulated mycotoxins in food and occupational settings.
• To provide an overview of current biomonitoring approaches for mycotoxin exposure assessment.
• To highlight advancements in analytical techniques for mycotoxin determination.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of scientific papers and data on toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins.
• Examination of biomonitoring strategies using plasma, serum, urine, and blood samples.
• Focus on advanced analytical techniques, including liquid chromatography (LC) with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS).

Main Results:

• Toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins are prevalent in food and workplace environments.
• Biomonitoring is a validated method for quantifying mycotoxin exposure in humans and animals.
• LC-MS/MS and HRMS offer precise and accurate simultaneous determination of multiple mycotoxins.

Conclusions:

• Mycotoxin biomonitoring is vital for understanding and managing exposure risks.
• Advanced analytical methods enable reliable detection and quantification of various mycotoxins.
• Continued research and monitoring are necessary to mitigate the health impacts of mycotoxins.