ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the production of mycotoxins by the common species of Fusarium and the toxicity of a number of these fungal metabolites. The ubiquitous distribution of Fusarium species particularly in association with cereal plants predisposes to at least some mycotoxin contamination of grain when appropriate environmental conditions prevail. The production of Fusarium mycotoxins is affected by a diverse array of factors, broadly divisible into biological, physical, and chemical. In a number of countries, Fusarium head blight has been associated with years of high rainfall. Food safety, animal health and productivity, and human health problems identified with fungal-contaminated grains most recently have concentrated research on Fusarium species and their toxic metabolites. The spectrum of Fusarium metabolites that affect animal and human health are not only the most divergent structurally unrelated, but also are the most divergent biologically acting group of compounds known.
