ABSTRACT
In the farm to fork approach, the consumer is a key element at the end of the food chain. Food safety needs to be ensured and recommendations have to be provided to consumers. Many recommendations exist but they are mainly directed to preserve foods from pathogenic bacteria, viruses and parasites. Some chemical hazards, in particular mycotoxins, are produced by biological agents as. molds, mainly Penicillium, Aspergillus and Fusarium species. European regulations set maximum levels for certain mycotoxins, but this cannot be done at the consumer level. In the case of mold-contaminated foods, they generally have a negative impact on product quality as consumers can easily detect visible fungal mycelium that develops on food surfaces. In most cases, foods are either discarded or trimmed. In fact, consumers often lack knowledge to handle moldy foods safely and they are unaware as to whether the contaminating mold is mycotoxigenic. If a mycotoxigenic mold is present, mycotoxins can potentially be produced and migrate into the product. Therefore, it is necessary to study mycotoxin migration in foods by quantifying their concentration and by correlating these concentrations to simple observations that can be made by consumers (i.e. visual aspect of fungal growth). Safe recommendations about moldy foods could be provided only after this step using scientific studies.
