Metrolab Blog

Are you keeping pace with the mycotoxins threat?

As we enter a new year and a new decade, fast-emerging industries are highlighting potential threats to consumer health and wellbeing. Mycotoxins are one such threat – these secondary metabolites of moulds are able to grow on numerous foodstuffs such as cereals, dried fruits, nuts and spices. Additionally, with the vaping and cannabis-related industries growing fast, the presence of mycotoxins on cannabis plants has gained attention. Consumers are potentially ingesting these life-threatening fungi while vaping, smoking or consuming edibles and regulatory bodies are taking action. For example, in September 2019 Colorado, USA added mandatory mycotoxin testing for all medical and recreational marijuana to try and mitigate the harmful effects they can potentially cause.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) these naturally occurring toxins have the potential to be extremely harmful to humans and livestock. The growth of mycotoxin moulds can happen at any time during the growing, harvesting or processing of these products, under warm and humid conditions. Adverse health effects range from acute poisoning to cancer.

We can support your screening and detection of mycotoxins with a range of reference materials, including aflatoxins, fumonisins, trichothecenes and citrinin. Learn more about our range of mycotoxins across multiple formats designed for your analytical testing.

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