Advances in Food Mycology

RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING THE
CHRONIC PROBLEM OF
MISIDENTIFICATION OF
MYCOTOXIGENIC FUNGI ASSOCIATED
WITH FOODS AND FEEDS
Jens C. Frisvad, Kristian F. Nielsen and Robert A. Samson *
1. INTRODUCTION
Since the aflatoxins were first reported in 1961 from Aspergillus
flavus, mycotoxins have often been named after the fungus which was
first found to produce them. A long list of connections between fungal
species and mycotoxins and antibiotics has been reported, but
unfortunately many of the identifications, and hence the connection
between mycotoxin name and the source of the toxin, are incorrect
(Frisvad, 1989). The most famous example of such incorrect connections
was Alexander Fleming’s identification of the original penicillin
producer as Penicillium rubrum. Fortunately, in this example, the substance
was named after the genus Penicillium, rather than the species,
as K. B. Raper re-identified the strain as P. notatum, which was subsequently
determined to be a synonym of P. chrysogenum (Pitt, 1979b).
Later, penicillin was found in other strains of P. chrysogenum (Raper
and Thom, 1949).
The early aflatoxin literature is plagued with wrong reports of aflatoxin
production by Penicillium puberulum (Hodges et al., 1964),
* J. C. Frisvad and K. F. Nielsen: BioCentrum-DTU, Building 221, Technical
University of Denmark, 2800 Lyngby, Denmark; R. A. Samson: Centraalbureau voor
Schimmelcultures, PO Box 85167, 3508 AD, Utrecht, Netherlands. Correspondence
to: jcf@biocentrum.dtu.dk
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