How Climate Change is Poisoning Your Food and Mycotoxins Info Kit

Certain parts of the world are experiencing the height of their summer with the World Meteorological Organisation saying 2016 is on track to be the hottest year on record. Experts project the climate change will continue to cause a rise in temperatures making summer heat unbearable.

Among the many concerns around climate change is its impact on food safety. In a recent blog post by Phil Taylor, Global Marketing Manager - Food, Environmental and Forensics at SCIEX, he cited a UNEP report (United Nations Environment Programme) identifying toxic crops as one of the key threats driven by climate change.

Agricultural crops like maize, coffee, groundnut, peanut and wheat, among others take the hit with rising temperatures. The weather also promotes the growth of mycotoxins in the crops pre- and post-harvest. As a metabolite by-product of mould, the formation of mycotoxins is highly dependent on regional temperatures, rainfall, moisture levels, storage, and handling conditions of raw and finished food products. When ingested, mycotoxins can cause acute or chronic diseases such as reduced growth and development, immunosuppression, and worst, cancer.

This issue particularly affects tropical countries, especially in APAC, as the temperature, rainfall and moisture levels in the region are ideal for mycotoxins to occur and thrive.

In April 2013, there was a recall on peanut butter in New Zealand due to high levels of aflatoxin, a type of mycotoxin, found during food testing. In March 2013, Romania’s Minister of Agriculture, Daniel Constantin declared that aflatoxin contaminated milk had been identified in Hungarian milk imports and some Romanian processors. This resulted in 13,800 litres of milk being withdrawn from the market.

Food safety is a war that must be fought on many fronts. Another pertinent issue is the use, or abuse, of pesticides, with more than 1000 pesticides being used globally. Many of these compounds are carcinogenic, cytotoxic, or eco-toxic.

With such a real threat on human life, this has caused a demand for powerful and rapid analytical methods that can detect very low concentrations of pesticides and mycotoxins.

In order to help food safety laboratories and concerned groups detect very low levels of mycotoxins and pesticides present in food samples and to identify their quantity levels, SCIEX has compiled a Mycotoxin Detection, Identification & Quantification Info Kit. The info kit contains the following documents:

1、Mycotoxin analysis in food – SCIEX solution to testing for mycotoxins
2、Technical note on simultaneous analysis of pesticides and mycotoxins – SCIEX solution to simultaneous testing for mycotoxins and pesticides
3、How climate conditions can affect our food – SCIEX leveraging LC-MS/MS methods to test for the effects of climate change on food

I hope you find the SCIEX info kit useful.  Please allow us to get in touch with you shortly to check your interest in using the information we shared. We are also glad to make arrangements for you to speak to a SCIEX food safety expert, should you be interested. Alternatively, please feel free to contact myself or Melinda through EASTWEST Public Relations telephone numbers (65) 6222 0306/ 6336 2474 or email sciex@eastwestpr.com.