Regulations of the European Union for mycotoxins in foods.

Mycotoxins are fungal metabolites that are present in a large part of the world food supply and bear potential threat to food safety. The European Union has been working for several years now on the harmonization of some mycotoxin standards for foods based on toxicological evaluation by its Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). These standards will follow the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principle and will be applied to aflatoxins in the first place followed by ochratoxin A, patulin, and several toxins from Fusarium spp. Detailed regulations (limits, methods of sampling, and analysis) for aflatoxins B, G, and M on the commodities at stake have been worked out. At the moment, a variety of interrelated approaches as to the intake and toxicity of ochratoxin A are being discussed to assess the hazards and to determine the associated risk of this toxin. The other toxins like patulin and the ones derived from Fusarium spp. such as zearalenon and fumonisins will be discussed in the years to come.