MYCOTOX-PALOP - Multi-actor partnership for the risk assessment of mycotoxins along the food chain in African Portuguese-speaking countries (PALOP)
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abstract
Project ref. FCT – Aga Khan/541590696/2019
The health impact of mycotoxin exposure is grossly underreported in Angola (AN) and Mozambique (MZ) due to the lack of coordinated monitoring and medical surveillance, and its control is inadequately addressed. Due to inherent climatic, agricultural and political conditions, these countries are subjected to major food security issues, which could be partially mitigated by increasing the awareness to crop losses due to fungal and mycotoxin contamination. The aims of the project are to: gather knowledge on food and feed fungal losses and mycotoxin contamination in MZ and AN; set mycotoxin risk assessment programmes; and establish intervention strategies to reduce human exposure to mycotoxins and their negative impacts, by means of safe and efficient intervention strategies. Access, training and extension actions at the scientific, technical and community levels will be strongly promoted to build human and technical capacity, bridging the gap between research and the various stakeholders, including farmers, retailers, trading companies, and regulatory agencies. Integrated actions and policies will expectedly be adopted, in a way of contributing to the improvement of the governance policies and programmes. This project finally aims at contributing to long-term benefits for citizens, economy and society, as it meets important Development Goals set by the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Goal 2 “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. MYCOTOX-PALOP builds on the scientific, technical and field expertise of a joint task force including CIMO-IPB and CEB-UMinho (Portugal), ISPKS (AN) and UEM (MZ).
