Micotossine: prevenire è molto, molto meglio che curare

Food contamination with fungal secondary metabolites has been a major limit for population wellness and development in the past. Although today social protection against this plague has been established in most countries, there are still many areas in the world where mycotoxin contamination causes illness and even death, due to the lack of healthy conditions for the storage of commodities. Information and knowledge are the main weapons available to contrast the danger of food contamination by mycotoxins. In several instances, information about the severity of the issue alone would have been effective in preventing cases of acute intoxications. Prevention is the winning strategy not only at the level of the end consumer, but also as far as the production is concerned. Thanks to the advances in the understanding of fungal epidemiology and mycotoxin synthesis, strategies for the prevention or at least for the limitation of mycotoxin contaminations have been developed in recent years. As far as cereal production in Italy is concerned, proper storage conditions are now widely adopted, and protocols for good practice in cultivation are being followed by an increasing number of producers. In addition, rapid methods for the early detection of contaminants and quality assessment have been developed and, when introduced in the routine field operation, may lead to substantial improvements of product quality.