Mycotoxigenic fungi and mycotoxins in chestnuts and derivatives

Italy is the first chestnut producing country in Europe. Almost20% of the total production is devoted to industrial processing,including chestnut flour, dried chestnuts and marrons glacés. Inpostharvest, chestnuts and derivate products can be affected byparasitic fungi, including species of Penicillium, agents of greenmould, and some species of Aspergillus, able to produce mycotoxins,among the others aflatoxins and ochratoxin A. European CommissionRegulation 165/2010 establishes the maximum thresholdsfor aflatoxins in nuts, including chestnuts. Nowadays, the levelsof other mycotoxins are not regulated in chestnuts. Aflatoxins areproduced by A. parasiticus and A. flavus. Among the Penicilliumspp., P. crustosum is able to produce ochratoxin A, penitrem A androquefortine C, P. expansum can produce roquefortine C and patulin,while P. bialowiezense is able to produce mycophenolic acid.Prevention of contamination by mycotoxigenic fungi represents themost rational and economic strategy to reduce the mycotoxin risk.When prevention is not effective, mycotoxin detoxification can bean alternative to be developed for the chestnut chain.