Renata SUMALAN, Ersilia ALEXA, Georgeta POP, Cristina DEHELEAN, Radu SUMALAN 46 th Croatian and 6 th International Symposium on Agriculture 770 The biodiversity and dissemination of mycotoxin-producing fungi in cereals and cereal products Renata SUMALAN, Ersilia ALEXA, Georgeta POP, Cristina DEHELEAN, Radu SUMALAN 1 Banat University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timişoara, 119 Calea Aradului, 300645 Timişoara, Romania, (e-mail: srenata_maria@yahoo.com) 2 University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timişoara, Romania Abstract Cereal products are of great importance in human nutrition due to the daily intake of natural fibbers. In the last decade, the nutritionists’ effort to introduce whole grain products brought about the concern to ensure mycotoxin-free cereal products. Our study has two objectives. The first is to evaluate the frequency of fungi on seeds of wheat, barley and maize. In wheat, we determined mycobiota belonging to genera Fusarium, Alternaria and Penicillium. The barley seeds mycobiota contain Chaetomium, Trichoderma and Fusarium species. The highest fungal biodiversity was determined on the maize seeds: Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Chaetomium and Cladosporium species were identified. The second objective of our research was to study the persistence and dissemination of fungi in bakery products. The study was conducted on wheat bread flour, which was stored in different packaging: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and punched polypropylene (pPP). In the seventh day of storage, we established the coverage degree of bread moulds; we made isolations to study morphological aspects that led to the identification of Penicillium frequetans and Aspergillus fumigatus. Key words: mycotoxin-producing fungi, cereal seed mycobiota, fungus bread Introduction The interest shown by Romanian consumers towards using whole grain products has increased in the last decade. The concerns of researchers to ensure safety and nutritional quality of products led to increased monitoring of grain concerning the contamination with mycotoxins. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by the fungi that cause adverse effects on the body where they are consumed, therefore food and feed contamination by mycotoxins is a major problem, acknowledged by the international community only after 1970 (Bhat, and Vasanthi, 1999; Shephard, 2006; Doolotkeldieva, 2010). Aflatoxin, ochratoxin, trichothecenes, zearalenone, fumonisins, tremorgenic toxins and ergot alkaloids are the most important mycotoxins that present significant problems (Zain, 2010). Mycotoxicosis is a disease caused by eating food contaminated with mycotoxins and includes distinct syndromes as well as non-specific conditions. The appearance, growth, propagation and synthesis of fungal mycotoxins in grain are influenced by many factors starting with the cereal crop plant health, conditions of storage and processing as well as the genetic characteristics of fungi (Savu and Georgescu, 2004; Popescu and Cotuna, 2009). Our study has two objectives. The first consists in assessing the contamination level of wheat, barley and maize seeds with mycotoxin-producing fungi. The second objective is the study of persistence and dissemination of fungi in bakery products. The study was conducted on bread made from wheat flour, packed in different materials. Proceedings. 46 th Croatian and 6 th International Symposium on Agriculture. Opatija. Croatia (770-773) ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER