Twenty-six participants completed BIOTROP’s  Third Regional Training Course on Prevention and Control of Mycotoxins in Food and Feedstuff  held on 17-22 June 2013 at its headquarter in Bogor, Indonesia.  The participants came from Brunei Darussalam (2), Cambodia (1), Indonesia (17), Malaysia (1), Singapore (1), Thailand (2), and Vietnam (2).

In general, the training course aimed to equip the participants with basic and applied knowledge and skills on the techniques for the analysis, prevention and control of mycotoxins in food and feedstuff .  In the process, it also hoped to establish a network of practitioners on the subject matter in Southeast Asia. 

The training was designed for research and development staff from government and private agencies, research institutions and universities; food and feed industry managers, and associated groups interested in the prevention and control of mycotoxins in food and feedstuff in Southeast Asia.

The following topics were tackled during training through lecture-discussions and laboratory exercises:

1.    Mycotoxins: a continuous global concern.
2.    Overview of food mycotoxin problems in Southeast Asia.
3.    Spoilage fungi and mycotoxins, their prevention and control.
4.    Fungal isolation, enumeration and identification
5.    Fungal identification using molecular biology technique.
6.    Sampling, sample preparation and isolation of mycotoxins.
7.    Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) in relation to prevention and control of mycotoxins.
8.    Determination of mycotoxins using HPLC and Quantitative Strips/Vertu methods.
9.    Method development and quality assurance on mycotoxin analysis.
10.  Risk assessment and worldwide regulations for mycotoxins
11.  Fumigation as an alternative measure to control fungi and mycotoxins
12.  Policy strategy of food safety for international trade

Resource persons and facilitators during the training were: Dr. Hans P. van Egmond,  Senior Scientist from RIKILT Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Dr. Roy A. Sparringa, Deputy Chairman for Food Safety and Hazardous Substance from National Agency for Drug and Food Control of   Indonesia ; Prof. Dr. Okky Setyawati Dharmaputra, Senior Scientist from SEAMEO BIOTROP and also Lecturer from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Indonesia; Dr. Yadi Haryadi and  Dr. Utut Widyastuti , Lecturers from IPB;  Dr. Suwidji Wongso, Managing Director from PT Angler BioChemLab, Surabaya, Indonesia ; Dr. Mulyo Sidik, Managing Director from East Asia Food Security Research Agency, Bangkok, Thailand; Dr. Ir. Gardjita Budi, M.Agr.ST, Director Quality and Standardization, Directorate General of Processing and Marketing of Agricultural Products, Ministry of Agriculture of Indonesia ; Mr. Ferdi Ferdian Kusnadhi, STP, Laboratory Expert on Mycotoxin Analyses from PT Berca Niaga Medika, Jakarta, Indonesia; and Mr. Joko Tanadi, Laboratory Expert on Mycotoxin Analyses from PT Radin Nugrah Deksatama, Jakarta, Indonesia.

At the start of the training, the lectures of Dr. van Egmond on Mycotoxins as a Continuous Global Concern and Overview of Food Mycotoxin Problems in Southeast Asia plus the participants’ sharing on  the status and challenges in mycotoxin prevention and control in their respective countries emphasized the need for more mycotoxin research in the SEA region.  These provided the inputs for the participants to develop and submit their individual action plans as a course requirement in terms of applying the knowledge and skills they gained from the training.

Prof. Okky S. Dharmaputra acted as the coordinator of the training.