Mycotoxins are major food contaminants affecting global food safety and food security, especially in low and middle-income countries. Mycotoxins are produced by fungi and can be detected in food and feed contaminated commodities.

Fungi contamination and growth can occur in the field, before production, during storage, processing, transportation or marketing of the commodities, consequently becoming one of the major risks of food losses.

The consumption of contaminated food and feed can affect human and animal health. The reiterated ingestion of mycotoxin-contaminated food can have severe health consequences, for example an increase in cancer rate and a higher prevalence of stunting.

High temperature, extreme weather conditions (drought, heavy rainfall), moisture content and pest presence are among the features that facilitate the presence of fungi and the production of mycotoxins.
Climate change and the increased occurrence of climate extremes, just like the lack of international common guidelines, standards and regulations make mycotoxin contamination prevention more challenging.

In Africa in particular, mycotoxin contamination remains a major source of concerns with adverse effects not only on health and nutrition quality, but also on commodity trade and on the economy in general.
In developing countries, mycotoxins have therefore a direct impact on food safety, food and nutrition security.

Finally, food safety represents one important element of the food environment that influences the sustainability of food systems.