Food Microbiology

Fungi may be used as the food or the food edible followed by processing. Processing may make it possible to consume the food stuff by modifying, adding or removing components, including flavours, nutritional elements to enhance the appeal of food. These are the contributor to the processing of food. Their use dates back to the start of civilisation, when breads and wines were first made deliberately. These days, the selection and use of fungi is a highly organised field of research and development in food industry.  Fungi can also present health risks by the production of specific toxic agent called mycotoxin, which are often poorly understood, but are being increasingly recognised as agents of both acute and chronic toxicity in humans and animals. In the research area of Food Mycology, the physiology and molecular biology of filamentous fungi play a role as spoilage or toxin-producing organisms are investigated. The research focuses on the elucidation of the regulatory mechanism for mycotoxin biosynthesis at both molecular and physiological level. The emphasis of these investigation is on the influences of environmental conditions which lead to mycotoxin synthesis in the plant food product. This approach aims to develop new procedures which prevent mycotoxin production in such foods.