Moulds in agriculture and food

Abstract

The visible presence of a mould on food or animal feeding stuff does not indicate that the food is poisonous. An obvious instance is the Stilton Cheese. All feeds showing mould growth must not be discarded as dangerous. Economically the world could not survive such a policy and famine would soon follow. Many fungal metabolites occur only when every factor in their environment, such as moisture, temperature, food composition, leads to the mould producing a toxin during growth; for example, Aspergillus flavus, one of the chief mould contaminants of barley. This mould produces aflatoxin, which caused ‘Turkey X disease’, from which thousands of turkey poults died in the early 1960's. The paper discusses the arguments about the plant pathologist's approach to plant protection and the use of F.Y.M. versus chemical fertilizers. It mentions circumstantial evidence that various animal diseases of unknown origin may well be produced by mycotoxins. It suggests too that fungi could well be one of the quickest producers of useable food protein and other necessities, such as fats. Common sense and new knowledge must be applied when deciding to use or destroy any form of food.