RESEARCH PAPER
Toxin producing micromycetes on imported products of plant origin.
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Institute of Botany, Biodeterioration Reseach Laboratory, Vilnius, Lithuania
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Albinas Lugauskas
Institute of Botany, Biodeterioration Reseach Laboratory, Vilnius, Lithuania
Ann Agric Environ Med. 2005;12(1):109-118
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ABSTRACT
Recently the food of people is profusely supplemented with vegetables andfruit imported from various regions. Investigations on the mycological state of imported foodstuffs revealedthat the marketed vegetables, fresh, dried and frozen fruit are contaminated with propagules of variousmicromycetes. The obtained results allow the conclusion that vegetables and fruit can become a good substratefor mycotoxin producing micromycetes. The micromycetes develop on everyday products and can become thecause of slow toxicoses, which are characterized by a diversity of symptoms and are difficult to diagnose.Therefore, contamination of food products with micromycetes of the Penicillium, Aspergillus, Fusarium,Alternaria, Paecilomyces, Trichotecium, Rhizopus genera should receive particular attention. It shouldbe noted that a strain growing on a particular type of vegetable or fruit could synthesize and excretedifferent toxic secondary metabolites.