Safe food and feed through an integrated toolbox for mycotoxin management: the MyToolBox approach

R Krska,M De Nijs,H.P Van Egmond,M Sulyok,V Rossi,B Poschmaier,J Gilbert,N Magan,H.J Van Der Fels-Klerx,O Mcnerney,S Edwards,M Suman,M Pichler,F Bagi,F Berthiller

doi:10.3920/wmj2016.2136

Abstract

There is a pressing need to mobilise the wealth of knowledge from the international mycotoxin research conductedover the past 25-30 years, and to perform cutting-edge research where knowledge gaps still exist. This knowledgeneeds to be integrated into affordable and practical tools for farmers and food processors along the chain inorder to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination of crops, feed and food. This is the mission of MyToolBox – a four-year project which has received funding from the European Commission. It mobilises a multi-actorpartnership (academia, farmers, technology small and medium sized enterprises, food industry and policystakeholders) to develop novel interventions aimed at achieving a significant reduction in crop losses due tomycotoxin contamination. Besides a field-to-fork approach, MyToolBox also considers safe use options ofcontaminated batches, such as the efficient production of biofuels. Compared to previous efforts of mycotoxin reduction strategies, the distinguishing feature of MyToolBox is to provide the recommended measures to theend users along the food and feed chain in a web-based MyToolBox platform (e-toolbox). The project focuseson small grain cereals, maize, peanuts and dried figs, applicable to agricultural conditions in the EU and China. Crop losses using existing practices are being compared with crop losses after novel pre-harvest interventionsincluding investigation of genetic resistance to fungal infection, cultural control (e.g. minimum tillage or cropdebris treatment), the use of novel biopesticides suitable for organic farming, competitive biocontrol treatment and development of novel modelling approaches to predict mycotoxin contamination. Research into post-harvestmeasures includes real-time monitoring during storage, innovative sorting of crops using vision-technology, novelmilling technology and studying the effects of baking on mycotoxins at an industrial scale.

Highlights

The occurrence of fungal and subsequently, mycotoxin contamination in various crops is of major concern since it has significant implications for food and feed safety, food security and international trade
Existing knowledge combined with novel findings need to be adapted and integrated to provide the vehicle needed to practically implement this knowledge into tools for use along the food and feed chain. This is the mission of MyToolBox, a four year project, which has been recently funded by the European Commission (EC) and which was officially launched in March 2016 (Figure 2)
The overall objective of the MyToolBox project is to develop a series of integrated measures, which will enable a significant reduction of different kind of losses due to mycotoxin contamination

Summary

Introduction

The occurrence of fungal and subsequently, mycotoxin contamination in various crops is of major concern since it has significant implications for food and feed safety, food security and international trade. A study conducted in Thailand (Lubulwa et al, 2015) revealed that aflatoxins in maize can be expected to cause losses for the livestock sector between 7 and 110 million US$ per annum These estimates show that, limited to aflatoxins and fumonisins in two countries only, the losses in the livestock sector will be significantly multiplied if other commodities and other mycotoxins are taken into account. Existing knowledge combined with novel findings need to be adapted and integrated to provide the vehicle needed to practically implement this knowledge into tools for use along the food and feed chain This is the mission of MyToolBox (www.mytoolbox.eu), a four year project, which has been recently funded by the European Commission (EC) and which was officially launched in March 2016 (Figure 2). The project applies a multi-actor and multi-disciplinary approach throughout the food and feed chain with 40% industry participation including five end users and three Chinese institutions who collaborate closely with farmers and other relevant stakeholders from the industry

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