Browsing by Author "Bagi, F."
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Item Open Access The impact of management practices to prevent and control mycotoxins in the European food supply chain: MyToolBox project results(Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2021-02-08) Focker, Marlous; van der Fels-Klerx, H. J.; Magan, Naresh; Edwards, S. G.; Grahovac, M.; Bagi, F.; Budakov, D.; Suman, M.; Schatzmayr, G.; Krska, R.; de Nijs, M.The presence of mycotoxins in cereals has led to large economic losses in Europe. In the course of the European project MyToolBox, prevention and control measures to reduce mycotoxin contamination in cereals were developed. This study aimed to estimate the impact of these prevention and control measures on both the reduction in crop losses and the increased volume of crops suitable for food and/or feed. It focused on the following measures: the use of fungicides during wheat cultivation, the use of resistant maize cultivars and/or biocontrol during maize cultivation, the use of real time sensors in storage silos, the use of innovative milling strategies during the pasta making process, and the employment of degrading enzymes during the process of bioethanol and Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) production. The impact assessment was based on the annual volume of cereals produced, the annual levels of mycotoxin contamination, and experimental data on the prevention and control measures collected in the course of the MyToolBox project. Results are expressed in terms of reduced volumes of cereals lost, or as additional volumes of cereals available for food meeting the current European legal limits. Results showed that a reduction in crop losses as well as an increase in the volume of crops suitable as food and/or feed is feasible with each proposed prevention or control measure along the supply chain. The impact was the largest in areas and in years with the highest mycotoxin contamination levels but would have less impact in years with low mycotoxin levels. In further research, the impact assessment may be validated using future data from more years and European sites. Decision makers in the food and feed supply chain can use this impact assessment to decide on the relevant prevention and control strategies to apply.Item Open Access Safe food and feed through an integrated toolbox for mycotoxin management: the MyToolBox approach(Wageningen Academic Publishers, 2016-10-21) Krska, R.; de Nijs, M.; McNerney, O.; Pichler, M.; Gilbert, J.; Edwards, S.; Suman, M.; Magan, Naresh; Rossi, V.; van der Fels-Klerx, H. J.; Bagi, F.There is a pressing need to mobilise the wealth of knowledge from the international mycotoxin research conductedover the past 25-30 years, and to perform cutting-edge research where knowledge gaps still exist. This knowledgeneeds to be integrated into affordable and practical tools for farmers and food processors along the chain inorder to reduce the risk of mycotoxin contamination of crops, feed and food. This is the mission of MyToolBox – a four-year project which has received funding from the European Commission. It mobilises a multi-actorpartnership (academia, farmers, technology small and medium sized enterprises, food industry and policystakeholders) to develop novel interventions aimed at achieving a significant reduction in crop losses due tomycotoxin contamination. Besides a field-to-fork approach, MyToolBox also considers safe use options ofcontaminated batches, such as the efficient production of biofuels. Compared to previous efforts of mycotoxin reduction strategies, the distinguishing feature of MyToolBox is to provide the recommended measures to theend users along the food and feed chain in a web-based MyToolBox platform (e-toolbox). The project focuseson small grain cereals, maize, peanuts and dried figs, applicable to agricultural conditions in the EU and China. Crop losses using existing practices are being compared with crop losses after novel pre-harvest interventionsincluding investigation of genetic resistance to fungal infection, cultural control (e.g. minimum tillage or cropdebris treatment), the use of novel biopesticides suitable for organic farming, competitive biocontrol treatment and development of novel modelling approaches to predict mycotoxin contamination. Research into post-harvestmeasures includes real-time monitoring during storage, innovative sorting of crops using vision-technology, novelmilling technology and studying the effects of baking on mycotoxins at an industrial scale.