Penicillium crustosum: a threat to food safety?

Abstract

[Excerpt] With the continuous growth of the world population, substantial increases in food production will be required as well as the need to guarantee its safety. Problems related to food/feed contamination have been frequently reported, including those related with fungi and their production of mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites that can cause severe health issues in either humans or domesticated animals when ingested, inhaled and/or absorbed. Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most studied and poses a severe health risk. This toxin is present in a wide diversity of food and feed products with Aspergillus and Penicillium species being mainly associated with food spoilage and OTA contamination. The major OTA producers are P. verrucosum, P. nordicum and A. carbonarius. Recent studies have reported the presence of OTA in food matrices where known OTA producers are not present. Therefore, and based on previous evidences, other species, such as P. crustosum, are now being considered. The main goal of this work was to search for potential OTA producers among P. crustosum strains with different geographic origins and to search for potential genetic differences at the sub-species level. [...]