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Experts from the University of Debrecen are also participating in a European research and innovation project to investigate the impact of climate change on the emergence of mycotoxins that are harmful to health, for example in wheat and maize.
“Today, we are all feeling the unpleasant effects of climate change. Despite this, one of the most important food safety and public health problems associated with this, the continuing northward spread of the carcinogenic and immune-compromising aflatoxin-producing moulds in Europe, including Hungary, still receives relatively little media coverage. Aflatoxins are a threat to all ages, but are particularly dangerous to developing children. This is why the joint project of the University of Debrecen and the National Food Chain Safety Office (Nébih) between 2018 and 2023 was of pioneering importance,” Professor at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Debrecen, István Pócsi told hirek.unideb.hu.
As a result of a project supported by the national excellence programme (Determination of the short and long-term aflatoxin load of Hungarian consumers in the dairy chain and the basis for risk management measures), it was found that the Hungarian population is currently not exposed to a significant aflatoxin health risk through the dairy chain, and continuous monitoring of the feed and food chain for aflatoxins is warranted and recommended.
“It is important to underline that thanks to the National Excellence Programme, the consortium partners have acquired capabilities (microplate infection experiments, analytical method development, mycotoxin mitigation and prevention technology development, genomics and metagenomics studies, genetic studies) that allow us to undertake the broadest spectrum of mycotoxin research at the highest quality in our country. We hope that together we can meet the current challenges of climate change in this critical area. Perhaps the most important result of our joint consortium success is that through the successful development of this project we have also been able to integrate into the efforts of the international mycotoxin research community to address the mycotoxin problem effectively both in the EU and globally,” he added.
The latest joint success of the partners is that they have been invited to participate in the MYMATCH research and innovation project, which was launched in December thanks to the European Horizon Programme.
In addition to the National Food Chain Safety Office, the Innovative Food Cluster Ltd., owned by the University of Debrecen, is a consortium partner in the project. István Pócsi, professor at the University of Debrecen, is the Hungarian technical leader of the project, while Attila Nagy, Director of the Food Chain Safety Laboratory Directorate, is coordinating the professional work on behalf of the National Food Chain Safety Office.
One of the key tasks of the project is to improve predictive models based on climate change scenarios to predict the occurrence of mycotoxins in European food systems.
“This project is also a great opportunity to inform and educate farmers. One of the tasks of the Pharmapolis Innovative Food Cluster is to disseminate the results and forecasts of the project to a wider audience, including Hungarian and EU farmers. Both wheat and maize play a very important role in the agriculture of Hungary, which is why it is important for us that our researchers have managed to join such an important project, which will investigate and analyse the spread of these moulds practically across Europe,” Managing Director of the Innovative Food Cluster Ltd., Imre Szűcs said.
The MYMATCH HORIZON EUROPE project, launched in December 2024, involves twelve partner institutions from nine European countries.
As climate change is a major driver for the proliferation of mycotoxin-producing moulds and thus the entry of harmful mycotoxins into the food supply chain, the MYMATCH project aims to map the impact of climate change on the mycotoxins produced by moulds, which are commonly found in maize, wheat, tomatoes and nuts.
Hungarian researchers have played a major role in the monitoring of maize and wheat grain crops and related research, such as Aspergillus and Fusarium species identification and mycotoxin determinations.
Source and photo credit:dehir.hu
