Roquefortines in Food and Feed

The term “secondary metabolite” comes from the fact that its synthesis is required for organism growth and reproduction; for example, antibiotics, anticancer and antiviral drugs, alkaloids, differentiation effectors, and so on are produced by filamentous fungi, making them an intriguing research matter. Secondary metabolites are organic compounds produced mostly by bacteria, fungi, and plants. Mycotoxins, like toxic metabolic substances, are generally produced by certain molds and can be added to milk or milk products from two sources: indirect contamination, which takes place when dairy cows eat mycotoxin-containing feed, and direct contamination, which takes place when molds grow by purpose or by accident. Molds that can lead to contamination and other dairy products appear in a variety of genera and species, and they are extensively utilized in feed and food processing. Secondary metabolite genes and/or groups were regularly passed from one organism to another during evolution.