CLIMATE CHANGE AND MYCOTOXIN CONTAMINATION IN CENTRAL EUROPE: AN OVERVIEW OF RECENT FINDINGS

Climate change accompanied by global warming affects food security and food safety at different levels. Climate change has a direct impact on local weather conditions. Higher temperatures and elevated humidity or drought will increase the infection of crops by different fungi and therefore increase the probability of mycotoxin occurrence. Fungi have optimum temperature ranges within which they can infect agricultural crops more severely. Increasing average temperatures could lead to changes in the range of latitudes at which certain fungi are able to compete. The production of several mycotoxins including aflatoxins, ochratoxins or fumonisins is favored by moisture and high temperature. Recently, several papers have dealt with the effects of global warming caused by climate change on the appearance of mycotoxin producing fungi and mycotoxins in agricultural products. In this review, we wish to give a general overview on the potential effects of climate change on the occurrence of mycotoxin producing fungi and their mycotoxins in Central Europe.