MYcotoxiN migratION in moldy foods and exposure at the consumer level: one step further to determine consumer habits, provide safe consumer recommendations and limit food losses. – MYNION

Food losses are a major worldwide challenge and are partly due to mold spoilage at the consumer level in industrialized countries. One possible way to reduce food waste due to moldy foods would be to avoid a too conservative approach that leads to discarding entire or large portions of a product when fungal growth is observed. However, there is also a food safety risk as many fungal species produce mycotoxin(s) that can potentially migrate into foods, this health risk needs to be taken into account to establish consumer recommendations. The MYNION project will thus use a participative consumer panel strategy to determine consumer behaviors towards moldy foods, collect spoiled foods from their households and identify mycotoxigenic molds. Then, mycotoxin migration will be evaluated in foods prone to mold contamination using a “worst case” strategy and 3D migration hypothesis. This will be completed by 3 models based on mycotoxin diffusion in food, toxicology predictive model and quantitative exposure assessment model that will integrate all project data to ultimately determine simple and safe recommendations for consumers in relation to moldy foods. The effectiveness of these recommendations will be enhanced by adjusting them to the perceptions of the household decision maker on how to deal with moldy foods. The MYNION project clearly addresses important current food issues and will provide data that has never been previously obtained thus being both original (through the data to come about consumer decision making but also risks linked to mycotoxin production and migration in moldy foods) and innovative (through the various proposed multi-disciplinary approaches). Overall, the project will clearly increase consumer awareness on moldy foods, provide recommendations to consumers thus help prevent or reduce food waste while ensuring food safety which directly responds to current sustainable development interests.