Occurrence, Advanced Detection Methods and Mitigation Strategies of Mycotoxins in Cereal-Based Food Systems: A Critical Review

Abstract

Mycotoxins remain among the most persistent chemical hazards in cereal-based food systems because toxigenic fungi colonise grain in the field, multiply during drying and storage, and leave heat-stable metabolites that survive much of conventional processing. Aflatoxins, fumonisins, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, ochratoxin A and the T-2 and HT-2 toxins are the principal regulated contaminants, while modified forms and emerging metabolites such as enniatins and Alternaria toxins widen the range of exposure that current controls are designed to capture. This critical narrative review examines occurrence, detection and mitigation together, on the premise that weaknesses in any one domain limit the value of advances in the others. Literature was identified through structured searches of multidisciplinary and biomedical indexes, supplemented by institutional risk assessments, legislation and citation tracking, and was appraised qualitatively for design, analytical rigour, representativeness and relevance. The synthesis indicates that contamination above analytical detection limits is far more common than older global estimates implied, that co-occurrence is the norm rather than the exception, and that the heaviest burdens fall on subsistence consumers of maize and other staple grains in tropical and subtropical regions where regulatory oversight seldom reaches household grain. Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem or high-resolution mass spectrometry has become the confirmatory reference, but sampling variance, matrix effects and the shortage of standards for modified forms continue to dominate measurement uncertainty. Rapid immunochemical, aptamer-based, spectroscopic and imaging platforms frequently report impressive sensitivity, yet few have been validated on naturally contaminated grain under realistic operating conditions. Among mitigation options, prevention-oriented measures supported by field-scale evidence, such as atoxigenic biocontrol, timely drying, hermetic storage and kernel sorting, outperform decontamination technologies whose efficacy, by-product toxicity and effects on grain quality remain insufficiently characterised. Health outcomes beyond aflatoxin-associated liver cancer are less firmly established, as illustrated by discordance between observational and randomised evidence on child growth. Progress therefore depends on linking validated, fit-for-purpose detection with predictive risk models and on evaluating mitigation through exposure and health endpoints rather than laboratory reduction percentages alone.