Prevention and practical strategies to control mycotoxins in the wheat and maize chain

Abstract

Within this study, food safety management systems for wheat and maize, and derived white wheat flour and maize flour, have been evaluated, considering different prevention and practical intervention measures to be applied during storage and processing. For this purpose, through an operational flow chart, authors have performed mycotoxin-hazard analysis in the pre- and post-harvest phases and applied Food Safety Objective (FSO) and Performance Objective (PO) concept. Mycotoxin-hazard and analysis of control measures in the pre-harvest operations indicated that the most important practices at pre-harvest level for the control of mycotoxins in wheat/maize chain may include: (i) land preparation, such as tillage, cover crop and crop rotation, (ii) planting and antifungal mulch treatment, application of botanical extracts and intercropping, (iii) application of fungal biocontrol agents to reduce aflatoxins and (iv) application of fungal and bacterial biocontrol agents. For the post-harvest operations one Critical Control Point (CCP) and five Control Points (CPs) have been determined. The CCP includes an intervention measure that can be applied during storage, such as the application of treatments with volatile bioactive compounds, cold plasma, ozonisation or UV treatment. The results of FSO/PO analysis applied to wheat/maize chain revealed that FSO (the maximum level of mycotoxins in final food products given in European legislation) could be reached by combining conventional production steps such as cleaning and milling with different intervention strategies. For all strategies presented here, application on actual food production site must take into account local specificities and its interaction with climatic conditions.