August 1998   Volume IV, No.2

At the 5th INTERNATIONAL FEED PRODUCTION CONFERENCE, held from June 15-18, 1998 in Piacenza, Italy, four papers were presented on mycotoxins, including fumonisin toxicoses in pigs, consequences of mycotoxin feed contamination on dairy cows production efficiency, in vitro immunotoxic effects and microbial inactivation of trichothecenes. Contact: G. Piva, Facoltà di Agraria, Università Cattolica, Piacenza, Italy. Fax: 39-52-359-9259.

The INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON MYCOTOXINS IN THE FOOD CHAIN - PROCESSING AND TOXICOLOGICAL ASPECTS (MYCOTOX 98) was held from July 2-4, 1998, in Toulouse, France. The Symposium featured 14 plenary lectures, 22 short research presentations and 101 posters in a very tight two-day schedule. The plenary lectures provided overviews on: 1) The biogenesis of mycotoxins (P.S Steyn), 2) Natural occurrence of mycotoxins in food and feeds (A. Pittet), 3) Strategy for safe use of fungi and fungal derivatives in food processing (J. Le Bars), 4) Industrial and farm detoxification processes for mycotoxins (P.M. Scott), 5) Biological fate of mycotoxins in animals (P. Galtier), 6) Participation of animal biotransformation in mycotoxin toxicity (G.E. Neal), 7) Immunotoxicity of mycotoxins (I. Oswald), 8) Haematotoxicity of mycotoxins (D. Parent-Massin), 9) Estrogenic mycotoxins (W.T. Shier), 10) Recent advances in the genotoxicity of mycotoxins (G. Dirheimer), 11) Fumonisins: mechanism of mycotoxicity (R.T. Riley), 12) Carcinogenic risk assessment of mycotoxins (M. Castegnaro), 13) Mycotoxin regulations: an update (H. Rosner), 14) Mycotoxin prevention and control: FAO programs (E. Boutrif). Research papers included work on: 1) Analytical and detection procedures, 2) Mycotoxicogenesis, 3) Natural occurrence, 4) Prevention, 5) Technological decontamination, 6) Microbial conversion, 7) Biological fate in animals, 8) General toxicity, 9) Cytotoxicity, 10) Genotoxicity, 11) Developmental toxicity, 12) Detoxification, 13) Surveys in food, 14) Occurrence in human fluids, and 15) Risk assessment, relevant to several mycotoxins including aflatoxins, ochratoxin, fumonisins, trichothecenes, zearalenone, patulin, and Alternaria toxins. They appear either as full papers or extended abstracts in the June 1998 issue of Revue de Médecine Vétérinaire, a copy of which was presented to all registrants.

A panel on "Aflatoxin and Food Safety - Aflatoxin Prevention Programmes" was organized in Rome, from October 27-28, at the PISTACHIO 97 meeting by Dr. E. Boutrif (FAO, Rome), providing information on prevention of aflatoxin contamination in pistachios, regulatory matters and FAO mycotoxin prevention programs, and related matters issued by Codex Alimentarius.

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