Multi-(myco)toxins in Malting and Brewing By-Products

Abstract

Fungi, yeasts, and bacteria are common microorganisms on cereals used in malting and brewing industries. These microorganisms are mostly associated with the safety and quality of malt and beer, but also with the health safety of by-products used in animal nutrition. The real problem is their harmful metabolites—toxins that, due to their thermostable properties, can easily be transferred to malting and brewing by-products. Besides fungal metabolites, other toxins originating from plants can be harmful to animal health. Precise and accurate analytical techniques broadened the spectrum of known toxins originating from microorganisms and plants that can pose a threat to animal health. Multi-(myco)toxin analyses are advanced and useful tools for the assessment of product safety, and legislation should follow up and make some important changes to regulate yet unregulated, but highly occurring, microbial and plant toxins in malting and brewing by-products used for animal feed.

The Influence of Steeping Water Change during Malting on the Multi-Toxin Content in Malt

“…Malting and brewing processes have not been included into mycotoxins legislative per se, and this could represent a global health problem since beer is a widespread beverage. Multi-toxins can be found in malting and brewing by-products used as animal feed or additions to human nutrition [11,12]. Based on a few recent scientific papers published on mycotoxins in beer [10,11,12,13,19], an immediate update concerning the emerging multi-toxins that can be found in malt and beer, together with a risk assessment, is necessary.…”

“…To this day, several hundred mycotoxins have been described [7]. Mycotoxins from cereals transfer into malt and to the final product, beer, where they can be detrimental to human health [8,9,10,11,12]. In the malt–beer chain, most studies consider trichothecenes as the most relevant mycotoxins due to their properties of being water-soluble and resilient to high temperatures at lower pH values (such as alcoholic medium—beer) [13,14].…”

The Pressure of Fusarium Disease and Its Relation with Mycotoxins in The Wheat Grain and Malt

“…Furthermore, some Fusarium species, such as F. poae , can produce NIV and other emerging mycotoxins, such as beauvericin, enniatins, and fusarin [29], and their occurrence in cereals and malt is already documented [29]. According to Mastanjević et al (2019) [30], the brewing industry could be affected by FHB with the negative impact on germination rates, which results in worse malting quality and malt yield reduction.…”

Occupational Exposure to Mycotoxins—Different Sampling Strategies Telling a Common Story Regarding Occupational Studies Performed in Portugal (2012–2020)

“…Workers in several activity sectors are exposed to organic dust that contains different bacteria and fungi, as well as their components such as mycotoxins, endotoxins and glucans. High exposure to organic dust containing mycotoxins, secondary toxic metabolites produced by fungi, can occur during the development of several working routine activities, such as storage work, loading, handling, or milling contaminated materials (e.g., grain, waste, and feed) in different types of industries (e.g., brewing, bakeries), and others such as caring for animals in animal husbandry settings [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Despite this occupational exposure has been demonstrated in previous research work [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], exposure assessment is not routinely performed and mycotoxins are still not recognized as an occupational risk factor present in several workplaces [20].…”