CONFERENCE ▶▶▶
Looking beyond horizons
The 11th edition of the World Mycotoxin
Forum meets IUPAC took place from 14-16 October. Over 400 people from 42 countries from the food and feed industry met in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 87 speakers presented their current knowledge on mycotoxins.
T BY MARIEKE PLOEGMAKERS
he aim of the conference was to increase the aware- ness of human and animal health risks due to myco- toxin contamination. Prof. Manfred Grasserbrauer of Vienna University,
Austria opened the conference addressing one of the main challenges of the coming years: Climate change. “If we are continuing with business as usual, we are likely to encounter a doubling of annual CO2
emissions till 2100 and tempera-
ture will increase from now by 3.7 degrees. Leading to an un- predictable occurrence of mycotoxins.” Researchers at Queens university in Belfast re-evaluated the widely cited FAO estimate that 25% of agricultural crops are contaminat- ed with mycotoxins. Their conclusion is that when the esti- mate is made based on detection limits and not legal limits (as is with the FAO estimate) the estimate is 60-80%. Accord- ing to the Irish researchers this can be explained through
improvements of analytical methodology as well as climate change. During the conference it became clear that effective intervention strategies are required regarding climatic variation and extreme weather conditions.
Future farming According to Prof. Josse De Baerdemaeker of KU Leuven, digi- talisation of agriculture, so called agriculture 4.0, will assist in reducing the risk of mould contamination. “The Food Agricul- tural Organization of the United Nations has given recom- mendations for Good Agricultural Practices to reduce the risk of mycotoxins. Recommendations about soil, crops, weeds etc.. All these management measures can be connected to advanced technology, for better information processing and decision making.” Or will vertical farming be the future? A controlled environment that is less subject to variation in cli- mate and pathogens. “Vertical farming provides faster and more precise production. One acre of vertical farming can provide a production equivalent of 10-20 acres of conven- tional production. Also the high levels of control will reduce the interaction between crops and pathogens,” Nigel D Scol- lan of Queen’s University, Belfast stated at the conference. What about insects? Particular insect larvae seem to tolerate and efficiently excrete high amounts of mycotoxins, accord- ing to Ronald Maul, National Reference Laboratory for Myco- toxins, Germany. The debate will continue at the next WMFmeetsAsia in Bangkok.
The World Mycotoxin Forum goes to Asia!
The world leading independent mycotoxin conference – The World Mycotoxin Forum – is spreading its wings and will organise the first Asia edition in January 2020. The event will be organised by Misset International, the pub- lisher of the international multimedia brand All About Feed, in cooperation with Bastiaanse Communication, the creator and organiser of the regular editions of the World Mycotoxin Forum. WMFmeetsASIA will be held 13-15 Jan- uary 2020 in Bangkok. Registration is now open.
High control levels in vertical farming may reduce pathogen interaction. 14
▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 27, No. 9, 2019
PHOTO: CORNE CLEMENS
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