Mycotoxins are toxic compounds, produced by the secondary metabolism of toxigenic moulds in the Aspergillus, Alternaria, Claviceps, Fusarium, Penicillium and Stachybotrys genera occurring in food and feed commodities both pre- and post-harvest. Adverse human health effects from the consumption of mycotoxins have occurred for many centuries. When ingested, mycotoxins may cause a mycotoxicosis which can result in an acute or chronic disease episode. Chronic conditions have a much greater impact, numerically, on human health in general, and induce diverse and powerful toxic effects in test systems: some are carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, estrogenic, hemorrhagic, immunotoxic, nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, dermotoxic and neurotoxic. Although mycotoxin contamination of agricultural products still occurs in the developed world, the application of modern agricultural practices and the presence of a legislatively regulated food processing and marketing system have greatly reduced mycotoxin exposure in these populations. However, in developing countries, where climatic and crop storage conditions are frequently conducive to fungal growth and mycotoxin production, much of the population relies on subsistence farming or on unregulated local markets. Therefore both producers and governmental control authorities are directing their efforts toward the implementation of a correct and reliable evaluation of the real status of contamination of a lot of food commodity and, consequently, of the impact of mycotoxins on human and animal health.

The element concentration (Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cr, Co, Ni, Se, K, Na, Ca and Mg), heavy metal concentration (Cd, Hg, Pb and As) and fatty acid composition of 12 Serbian bee bread samples from different geographical origins were examined. The element concentration was examined using ICP-MS, and total lipids for fatty acid determination were extracted from homogenized bee bread samples with hexane/isopropanol mixture by accelerated solvent extraction. Potassium was the major element, ranging between 5515±361.20 mg/kg and 7487±381.50 mg/kg. The highest As and Pb concentrations were found in bee breads from Lazarevac. This bee bread also contained the highest level of PUFA and SFA. Also, the n-6/n-3 ratio ranged between 0.86±0.28 and 1.40±0.05, indicating bee bread can be a good source of unsaturated fatty acids. Bee bread could be useful in monitoring environmental contamination by heavy metals (Cd, Hg, Pb and As), although complex studies of all bee products give sufficient information on this topic.

Intentions to purchase meat and repeat purchasing patterns will depend on the consumer’s perception of intrinsic and extrinsic quality cues. In order to discover consumers’ insights into the quality of pork and beef, the main objective of this study was to investigate meat color, marbling, and types of fresh meat defects. A total of 50 samples of meat were analyzed for three quality characteristics on different levels. This study applied a statistical calculation of a loss function invented by Taguchi. The results showed the values of variations in meat color and marbling that present the limits of consumers’ tolerance. Based on the obtained results, it was determined that the tolerable level of color variations of beef is 3.61, while for pork, this limit is 2.00. The most preferred marbling percentages were 21% and 5.74% for beef and pork, respectively. On the other hand, the negative effect of defects was the strongest for “dark cutting” for beef and “blood spotting” for pork loins.

Background: Samples of blood, kidney, and liver per animal were randomly selected from slaughtered pigs (n=60) and analyzed for ochratoxin A. Methods: Determination of ochratoxin A concentration in samples of kidney and liver was performed by high-performance thinlayer chromatography after immunoaffnity column clean up, while for plasma samples, a spectrofluorometric procedure was used. Results: Of the 60 plasma samples, 60% contained ochratoxin A in the range of 2.5-33.3 ng/mL (mean 3.05?5.0 ng/mL), while the incidence of ochratoxin A in kidneys and liver were very similar (70% and 65%). The average ochratoxin A concentration in liver was 3.2?4.35 ng/g (1.2-19.5 ng/g) and in kidneys was 3.97?4.47 ng/g (1.3-22.0 ng/g). A statistically significant difference (p<0.01) was found between region Backa Topola and Kovilj for both liver and kidney samples. In kidney samples originating from region Kovilj and Senta, a statistically significant difference (pliver>serum (100>80.8>77%). The results from this survey indicated that there was a strong correlation between the ochratoxin A level in serum and liver as well as in the ochratoxin A serum in kidney (r=0.884 and r=0.896, respectively) while the strongest correlation was found between the ochratoxin A level in liver and in kidney (r=0.970). Conclusion: The results of present study show that pork tissues as well as pork products are considered an important source of ochratoxin A in humans.