Q. What are mycotoxins? How are these produced and where are these found? Are these naturally-occurring or produced? What is their significance?
First what are mycotoxins? The term mycotoxin comes from a Greek word, "Mykes ", meaning fungus and the Latin word, "Toxicum ", meaning poison or toxin i.e. fungus toxin or poison. Mycotoxins are the substances (metabolites by-products) produced by moulds like Aspergillus flavus etc. produced in agricultural commodities either during pre or post-hawest stages, which may be toxic or produce adverse effects in living organisms, especially animals and/or humans. They are found in agricultural commodities like cereals (e.g., maize, wheat), oilseeds (e.g. groundnuts) and spices (e.g., chillies) etc. They are both important from the domestic, as well as, export market considerations. Poisoning caused by ingestion of a food or feed that contains a mycotoxin is called 'mycotoxicosis '.