Millennium EditionSUMMARIES OF SYMPOSIA & MEETINGS The 21st MYCOTOXIN WORKSHOP was held in Jena, Germany, from June 7-9, 1999, with nearly 150 participants mainly from Austria, Germany and Switzerland and 50 presentations (oral and poster). The Workshop was sponsored by the German Society for Mycotoxin Research (Homepage under construction: www.mycotoxin.de), whose objective is promoting science and research in the mycotoxin area. The major topics covered were: 1) The results of a study supported by the German Ministry of Health on contamination of foods and consumers with ochratoxin A (OTA). The aim of the study was to find out the main sources of OTA intake and calculate the daily intake of this mycotoxin both from the contaminated foods and from the toxin levels in the blood samples of German consumers. It was clearly demonstrated that cereals are the main sources of OTA-intake followed by coffee, beer, wine, juices and sweets. OTA was detected in 98% of blood samples analysed; however, OTA-levels in the blood were very low and did not correlate with other factors such as age, sex or eating habit, etc. Calculated daily intakes from this study were far below the Provisional Tolerable Daily Intake (PTDI) value of 5 ng/kg body weight recommended by the EU Scientific Committee on Food. The results of this worldwide unique study serve as a database for the present dicussion on the regulation of OTA limits in the EU. All results will be published this year in "Archiv für Lebensmittelhygiene." 2) Occurrence of toxigenic fusaria and Fusarium toxins. Because of the wet climate in summer 1998 the contamination of cereals with fusaria (especially Fusarium graminearum) and the Fusarium toxins deoxynivalenol and zearalenone was very high. This high contamination of grain in the field affects also food and feed quality, since contaminated grains cannot be removed completely by milling technical devices. In addition, methods for the selective determination of fumonisin B1 and its hydrolysis product (HFB1) and their application to corn and corn products were presented. 3) Different methods for the analysis of citrinin were presented, and it was shown that this mycotoxin is produced by Monascus species and can occur at high concentrations in Monascus spp. fermented rice (Angkak). Proceedings (in German) are available at cost of 50 DM (25 Euro). Contact: Dr. Gabriele Engelhardt, Bayerische Landesanstalt für Ernährung, Menzingerstr. 54, 80638 München. Fax: +49-89-174041; E-Mail: gabriele.engelhardt@lfe.bayern.de |