Abstract
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by a substantial number of fungal species that are harmful and pose a major threat to food safety and security globally. The increasing need for better food safety management and effective food safety testing services with priority leverage on mycotoxin regulation in agricultural commodities and by-products at both domestic and international levels requires accurate quantification that demands the use of high purity mycotoxin standards as reference materials. Mycotoxin standards are very limited in South Africa and if available, the purity is not certain, and the prices are extremely way too expensive thereby limiting food safety management. There are no studies reporting on the production of mycotoxins as reference materials in South Africa despite that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been producing a few for commercialization..
M.Sc. (Biotechnology)