Risk Assessment and Control of Ochratoxin A in Food and Feed

Dear Colleagues,

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is particularly known for its nephrotoxicity and carcinogenicity, being one among the many mycotoxins found in food and feed. Its toxicity and worldwide occurrence in the daily consumed cereal products and many other important foodstuffs derived from coffee grains, grapes, cocoa, pork meat, dry fruits, and spices place OTA in the group of legislated mycotoxins in several countries.

Since its discovery, and after more than 50 years of research, many questions about its occurrence, toxicity, detection, and control still need answers. For instance, the occurrence and toxicity of OTA modified forms resulting from fungal production, plant and microorganism metabolism, or food processing still needs a better understanding. How are the most recent MS methodologies and in vitro toxicity tests contributing to a better characterization of the entire ochratoxigenic risk of consumed food? Additionally, the remaining uncertainty about the mechanisms that contribute to OTA carcinogenicity and its unclear association with several nephrotoxic human diseases are topics that still need attention—for instance, the impact of climatic changes, agricultural practices, control measures, and food processing technologies on OTA occurrence and prevalence in foodstuffs. Furthermore, new concerns are arising related to its co-production and co-occurrence with other mycotoxins, especially with citrinin, also nephrotoxic. Is there any additional food safety problem here? On the other hand, more reliable and representative occurrence data in human biological fluids and milk are also needed. All these research aspects, and others, place OTA among the most challenging mycotoxins for research and risk assessment.

Thus, dear colleagues, I respectfully invite you to revisit the importance of ochratoxin A in food and feed safety and appeal to your contribution with reviews, original research works, or short communications to this Special Issue for the MDPI journal Foods. I sincerely hope this will serve as an excellent opportunity to gather once more a wide variety of novel and exceptional works on the “Risk Assessment and Control of Ochratoxin A in Food and Feed”.

Dr. Luís Abrunhosa
Guest Editor

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• ochratoxin A
• modified forms
• risk assessment
• detection
• occurrence
• toxicology
• carcinogenicity
• nephrotoxicity
• mitigation strategies
• biocontrol