Coexistence and combined toxic effects of principal emerging and common mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by fungi and pose a major threat to global food and feed safety. Although common mycotoxins, represented by aflatoxins (AFT), zearalenone (ZEN), ochratoxin A (OTA), and deoxynivalenol (DON), are subject to strict regulation, contamination with emerging mycotoxins, such as beauvericin (BEA), enniatins (ENNs), and moniliformin (MON), has been increasingly reported. These emerging mycotoxins often coexist with common mycotoxins in food and feed, resulting in complex mixed contamination. Such coexistence may give rise to complex combined toxic effects, including synergistic, additive, and antagonistic interactions, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, posing challenges to accurate risk assessment. This review summarizes the coexistence patterns, detection frequencies, and contamination levels of major emerging and common mycotoxins in various food and feed matrices across different geographical regions, while also considering modified/masked mycotoxins. It further examines the individual toxic effects and mechanisms of emerging mycotoxins, including ionophoric activity, apoptosis induction, and metabolic disturbance. In addition, this review focuses on the complex toxicological interactions arising from combined exposure to emerging and common mycotoxins and the molecular pathways involved. Overall, the available evidence indicates that emerging mycotoxins should be incorporated into mixture-oriented monitoring and cumulative risk assessment frameworks for food and feed safety.