Rising global temperatures and unpredictable weather patterns are creating a new normal for agriculture – one with a higher risk of "bad harvests" leading to increased mycotoxin and ergot contamination in crops. This paper explores the dangers of mycotoxins and ergot alkaloids, how new challenges increase these risks, and how optical sorting solutions from Bühler SORTEX has proven to be a powerful solution for ensuring food safety and quality even during challenging harvests.
The world's food supply depends on a delicate balance between environmental conditions and agricultural practices. However, challenges including climate change, improper storage and overuse of fertilizers are disrupting this balance, impacting crop health and creating conditions ideal for the growth of fungi that produce harmful mycotoxins and ergot alkaloids.
These invisible contaminants pose a significant risk to the safety and quality of our food supply. Processors are faced with a challenge – how to ensure food safety and maintain consistent quality standards in the face of a more unpredictable agricultural landscape.
To ensure consumer safety, from July 1st, 2024, regulations around the mycotoxin Fusarium Toxins Deoxynivalenol (DON) will become stricter in Europe, with global regulations likely to follow.
Mycotoxins and alkaloids (Ergot) are toxic compounds produced by fungi that can contaminate a variety of crops, including wheat, rye, oats, nuts, pulses and other grain. Consuming these toxins can have severe health consequences for humans and animals, including cancer and in some cases, even death.
As weather patterns become increasingly irregular, the presence of these contaminants can also increase. Droughts, floods, and extreme heat create ideal conditions for fungal growth, making it difficult to predict and prevent mycotoxin and ergot contamination. This provides a serious concern for everyone in the food supply chain as the raw material can have higher than average defect levels, and potentially toxins. These bad harvests can be expensive, wasteful, and have far-reaching consequences.
Consuming contaminated food products can lead to a multitude of health problems in humans and animals, including chronic illnesses and even cancer.
When harvest quality changes, food safety faces a multitude of threats. Stressed crops become more susceptible to fungal attacks and a higher concentration of defects. The pressure processors face to use every available resource, can significantly increase contamination within the food supply chain.
Furthermore, a reliance on stored grains from previous seasons, a necessity during poor harvests, introduces another layer of food safety concerns. Improper storage conditions can create ideal environments for further mold growth and toxin production within these stored grains. These combined factors create a domino effect, with increased amounts of contaminated food.
Bad harvests can trigger a ripple effect throughout the food industry, with product recalls emerging as a significant consequence. When crops are contaminated with mycotoxins, ergot alkaloids, or suffer from compromised quality, companies may be forced to recall affected products to protect consumers from potential health risks.
Product recalls can be disruptive and costly, damaging brand reputation and consumer confidence. Here's how:
Regulatory bodies are increasingly stringent when it comes to mycotoxin and ergot levels in food products. Processors face the pressure of meeting the thresholds of ever-changing regulations. From July 1st, 2024, maximum levels for the mycotoxin, DON, in cereals and cereal products will be made stricter and new maximum levels will be introduced for certain product groups. New advancements in optical sorting can help processors remove these invisible threats.
As the market-leader in food processing equipment, Bühler offers solutions across the whole process value-chain, helping to address the growing challenge of bad harvests.
One of these solutions is optical sorting, using a combination of full color, infra-red imaging, and intelligent algorithms to meticulously analyze individual grains for toxins.
By implementing Bühler’s optical sorting solutions, processors can achieve product quality, sustained yield, and consumer trust even in difficult times and bad harvests.
Bad harvests present a significant challenge to food processors. However, with the advanced technologies from Bühler SORTEX, processors can adapt and ensure food safety and quality even during unpredictable times.
