HUMAN AND ANIMAL HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT OF MYCOTOXIN MIXTURES IN MAIZE: FROM FUNGAL PRODUCTION AND OCCURRENCE TO HARMONISED RISK CHARACTERISATION

Maize is the principal staple food/feed crop exposed to mycotoxins, and the co-occurrence of multiple mycotoxins and their metabolites has been well documented. Dietary (co)-exposure to mycotoxins is associated with human and animal health concerns as well as economic losses. The present thesis aims to apply a holistic approach for the risk assessment of mycotoxin mixtures in food and feed, i.e. from fungal production and occurrence to harmonised risk characterisation. This was done in three folds. Firstly, available environmental, ecological, and agronomic factors that may affect the relative abundance of co-occurring mycotoxins in the contaminated crops were collected from peer-reviewed literature, with focus on maize (Chapter I). Secondly, (co-)occurrence data on mycotoxins in core cereals was extracted from available articles in the scientific literature and analysed to estimate potential pattern of co-exposure in humans and animals (Chapter II). Finally, Chapter III investigates the applicability of the EFSA guidance to multiple mycotoxins through a scenario of possible co-exposure in humans and animals, using maize as a case study. In particular, a human and animal risk assessment to mycotoxin mixture in maize was conducted using a modelled component-based approach for selected mixture of mycotoxins, that, according to our data, co-occur in maize based feed and food products.