Controlling Mycotoxins in the Food Supply in the United States and Worldwide

This proposed project will focus on interventions that reduce the risk of mycotoxins and their adverse effects (economic and health) in the US and global food supply. The project has several objectives:Objective 1: Conduct human health risk assessments of the current state of mycotoxins and their presence in the food supply, in the US and worldwide.Objective 2: Evaluate the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and feasibility of different mycotoxin control strategies in the US and in low-income settings worldwide.Objective 3: Estimate the changes in concentration and geographic spread of aflatoxin contamination in the US corn crop in the near future, given predictions of climatic factors (daily temperature and precipitation) across all counties.The beneficiaries of this research will be farmers, food producers/distributors, and consumers in Michigan, the United States, and worldwide. Reducing the mycotoxin problem will improve economic return to crop growers, and will ensure a safer food supply for humanity.