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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the parental risk perception of mycotoxins (mould toxins) related to child health in Germany. It ascertains the parental risk reduction behaviour operationalised as parental additional willingness to pay (aWTP) for special child products. It investigates the interrelationships between parental risk perceptions and risk reduction behaviour.

Altogether, 771 questionnaires were sent to 17 day-care centres in Lower Saxony, Germany. A total of 238 questionnaires were completed. The Perceived Food Risk Index was used to identify the main dimensions of parental risk perception of mycotoxins. Open and closed questions measured aWTP for risk reduction and parental risk estimates.

The respondents believed that mycotoxins posed a moderate health risk for children in Germany. However, parental risk assessment was found to be subjected to an optimistic bias. Nevertheless, the parents were willing to pay a premium to protect their children's health against mycotoxins. Parental risk perception of mycotoxins could be described by two dimensions named “Dread” and “Control”. “Dread” and “Control” predicted aWTP for risk reduction as well as being involved in the genesis of optimistic bias.

Information regarding mycotoxins provided in the questionnaire probably influenced parental responses. This limits the generalisation of the findings.

This research provides initial findings regarding parental risk perceptions of mycotoxins and its impact on risk reduction behaviour. The results are useful for the development of effective risk management and thus for the protection of child health.

More than 2,000 samples, representing 73 different kinds of Turkish foodstuffs and agricultural products, were analysed for total mould flora. The samples were collected from nine different agricultural regions and from 34 different cities of Turkey. A total of 1,977 isolates, representing 1,317 species and 40 different genera, were scanned for mycotoxin‐producing activities, using 31 different mycotoxin standards. Qualitative screening indicated 32.5 per cent of the cultures were able to produce mycotoxin, with 19 different types of mycotoxins identified. Dominant mould isolates varied by region. The dominant mycotoxins, respectively, were “roquefortin C” and “sterigmatocystin”. The extent of contamination was also determined and a mycotoxin risk profile was constructed for each agricultural region of Turkey.

A review of the food safety implications of crops contaminated by mycotoxins. Each of the most important mycotoxins, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, and patulin, are described individually with details of national and international safety evaluations and the UK’s controls to protect consumer safety. The state of play of EC proposals to harmonise national laws on mycotoxins is also described. Consumer perceptions of risk from these natural toxicants are assessed. Mycotoxins present a potential threat to consumer safety. Continued vigilance is necessary to ensure that regulatory and advisory limits are complied with. MAFF surveys regularly check the foods most at risk of contamination and where a problem is unearthed, consumers and industry are alerted as soon as possible through rapid publication procedures. Subsequent monitoring of the situation ensures that effective action is taken to protect consumer safety.

Mycotoxins have been a frequent topic of newspaper reports over the past year exciting such headlines as ‘liver cancer toxin fear in figs’, ‘health store's peanuts could give you cancer’ and ‘peanut cancer test developed by firm’. So, what are these mycotoxins and how much should they be feared?

Some useful bacteria could be used regularly in mycotoxins biodegradation. It is a very good and ecological method, which was tested in experiments when lactobacilli were used. The paper aims to describe this.

Five strains of lactobacilli in experiments were shown, by direct enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (CD‐ELISA) test after their growth in MRS broth, to have decreased in the amount of deoxynivalenol (DON) measured by spectrophotometer. Free DON in the samples and control is allowed to compete with enzyme‐labeled DON (conjugate) for the antibody binding sites. The test was read in a microwell reader to yield optical densities.

It was found that Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Lactobacillus fermentum were more active than human strain Lactobacillus casei Shirota.

The paper suggests that other lactobacilli should be tested in this research field and could be used for detoxification of some feed kinds contaminated minimally by DON.

The literature on mycotoxins and its spread into different subject disciplines has been examined using the card index of the Tropical Development and Research Institute Library. The index has a total of 2,802 references on mycotoxins. The graph on the growth of the subject shows an initial flat, a steep climb, a small flat and then a rapid decline. The field of mycotoxins began life as part of agriculture and then moved into the disciplines of chemistry, food science, medicine, microbiology and veterinary science. The pattern of literature spread or scatter made it possible to divide the literature into four chronological sequences or stages of development: period of academic interest, period of high activity, period of peak activity and period of continued interest. It is suggested that such a study could be useful in the effective running of a documentation centre.

This paper aims to provide information on the different methods of aflatoxin (AFT) degradation in rice.

Crops that are affected by AFT contamination include cereals, oilseeds, spices and tree nuts. AFT in rice may harm health to great extent, and if not properly determined, may cause death. The production and occurrence of mycotoxins differ depending on the geographic and climatic and environmental conditions; however, these toxicants can never be removed completely from the food supply.

Mycotoxins are commonly present in cereal grains such as rice and are not completely destroyed during their cooking and processing.

No review on detoxification of AFT has been found in rice.

During the years of the early fifties you could have heard said that a little bit of mould would not neces‐sarily harm you. No doubt this was due to the discovery of penicillin and other powerful antibiotics which could have come from moulds. The instinctive reaction, however, against moulds is to throw food showing signs of mould growth away and not to consume it. The deleterious activities of moulds have been recognized for many years. Crop losses caused by rusts and blights and the attacks of fungi on animal tissues are well known. These latter are generally known under the name of ‘Mycoses’. The commonest fungal attacks on man are such diseases as Athlete's Foot and Farmer's Lung.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of ultraviolet radiation (UVC) on the survivability and susceptibility of some fungal species isolated from the indoor air of agricultural, industry‐related workplaces.

Environmental fungi were collected from the air of cotton and soybean mills using liquid impinger sampler (AGI‐30). The UVC exposure experiment was performed on Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, Aspergillus ochraceous, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium rubrum using UV lamp (λ=254 nm; 0.1 mW/cm²). The susceptibility constant (Z) was used to determine the susceptibility of any given organism to UVC.

The conidia survival was inversely proportional to the time of UVC exposure and ∼77‐88.5% of conidia were killed within six hours of exposure. Mutant conidia showed a wide range of morphological alterations including damage of their cell walls and features. Mycotoxin production patterns of the mutants Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus changed on comparison with the parental control patterns.

The paper provides information on the effect of UVC radiation on environmental fungi. The results reported in this research discussed the disadvantages of using UVC as a decontaminant of fungi.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the possible microbiological contamination in terms of total counts and representative microbial groups found in the hazelnuts as well as in work areas and on the working surfaces of a hazelnut processing plant.

Some microbiological parameters related to the manufacturing process (e.g. aerobic colony count yeast and fungi) were evaluated. Indoor air samples were tested in order to evaluate the possible contamination of fungal strains (i.e. mycotoxin producing fungi).

The results showed that the highest values (>of 500 CFU/m³) for bacteria and fungi were only observed in the shelling and sorting areas. Some species such as Aspergillus and Penicillium (potential mycotoxin-producers) as well as some noxious colonies of Aspergillus fumigatus were detected along the processing line. No occurrence of aflatoxins was observed in the finished product. Microbial loads obtained through surface analyses were in accordance to the reference data.

The aim of this study was to monitor and improve the procedures currently used in a hazelnut processing plant.