Food Contaminants – Bacterial Toxins and Toxic Algae

Abstract

Contamination of food by several types of toxins is still a concern in the food sector. Toxins may include chemical compounds, microbial toxins and poisons that often cause food poisoning. Even though majority of the toxins that occur in food are successfully kept under control by different approaches, constantly growing consumer's requirements for additive-free food, minimal food processing and natural, fresh food, bring new challenges to the field of food safety. Moreover, food toxin subtypes and strains differ substantially in the structure and properties, and a required first step in a proper choice of inactivation method should be adequate and precise detection. Although the topic of both microbial and toxin identification has been widely elaborated in the scientific literature, this chapter ought to provide an updated overview of the current, more sensitive methods used for the purpose of genomic, metabolomics and proteomics analyses of food spoilage causes. Development of more reliable methods for qualitative and quantitative determination of each individual toxic species in foods is particularly relevant, as well as the development of a specific conditions and procedures that would inactivate or inhibit food toxins. The same imperative however, remains in the food safety field, particularly in the safeguarding impaired food safety and quality following food toxins inactivation.