Heavy metal in the soil-grain-food path: an overview of the role of Mycotoxins in potential hazards associated with animal products

Abstract

In recent years, the emerging livestock and poultry business has encountered several obstacles in producing healthy and safe products for human consumption while also providing quality and nutritious food for animals. The presence of fungal toxins and fungi in raw materials is the most significant difficulty in supplying food for livestock and poultry, since mycotoxins can reduce output and lower product quality. Also, their residues in the final products (milk, meat, eggs) can transmit their adverse effects to humans. Fungal toxins are produced as a result of the activity of fungi during their growth process, which is called Mycotoxins. Many fungal toxins have been identified to date, including Aflatoxins, Ziralenone, Fumonisins, and Ochratoxins. Aflatoxins contaminate foods, feeds, and other raw materials involved in their production, posing a serious health risk to humans, including carcinogenesis and severe toxicity. Environmental factors affect the production process of Mycotoxins, which depends on the geographical location, agricultural method, sensitivity of agricultural products, etc. Another important point is that some mycotoxins can be used as bioterrorism weapons. Exposure to Mycotoxins can have a wide range of detrimental biological effects, including bleeding, hepatotoxicity, renal toxicity, neurotoxicity, estrogenic, teratogenic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic. Because of the importance of the subject, in the current study, it was tried to review the role of Mycotoxins in potential hazards associated with animal products for humans.