Pesticides and mycotoxins as sources of food production safety threats

Abstract

The problem of food poisoning and food allergies does not lose its relevance and is still a threat to health, which must be minimized. Since various cereal-based products make up a significant proportion of the diet of humans and farm animals, the purpose of this review is to familiarize with sources of chemical and biological contamination of cereals, such as mycotoxins and pesticides. These compounds, which enter the human body and animals with food, can pose a health hazard even in quantities beyond detection. Among the pesticides that have become an integral part of modern agriculture, in this article, the greatest attention was paid to organophosphate herbicides as the most widely used on cereals. Among the latter, one of the most common organophosphorus compounds was identified - glyphosate, which is the active substance of many bulk and liquid herbicides. On the basis of information, mainly from foreign articles, the basic principles of accumulation of this substance in wheat grains and animals were formulated.