Mycotoxins are metabolites produced by fungi that colonize cultures, whether in the fields (trichothecenes, zearalenone, fumonisins, toxine T2) or during storage (ochratoxins A, aflatoxins).
It is a group of toxic substances which can be carcinogenic, immunosuppressant, hepato-toxic, nephro-toxic, etc. and often leads to a decrease in performance and important economic losses.
25% of the world crops are contaminated by mycotoxins. Due to worldwide commodities exchange and global climate change, it becomes increasingly erroneous to talk about a geographic risk distribution.
The toxicity threshold is difficult to determinate since it depends on a multitude of factors. The only thresholds that can be taken into account are the lowest contamination rates that have already been observed to affect zootechnical performance.