Worldwide regulations for mycotoxins in 1994

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Abstract
Since the discovery of the aflatoxins in the 1960s, regulations have been established in many countries to protect the consumer from harmful effects of mycotoxins that may contaminate foodstuffs. Various factors play a role in the decision‐making process of setting limits for mycotoxins. These include scientific factors such as availability of survey data, toxicological data, analytical methodology, and knowledge about the distribution of mycotoxins in contaminated commodities. Economical and political factors such as commercial interests and sufficiency of food supply have their impact as well.International enquiries on existing mycotoxin regulation in foodstuffs and animal feedstuffs have been carried out several times in the 1980s and details about tolerances, legal bases, responsible authorities, official protocols of analysis and sampling have been published. The most recent enquiry is currently taking place as part of a contract with the Food and Agriculture Organization. At least 77 countries now have regulations for mycotoxins. An overview is presented of the tentative results of this enquiry, including frequency distributions of existing tolerances for aflatoxins and current trends.