Phycotoxins - Chemistry and Biochemistry 2e

Phycotoxins are a diverse group of poisonous substances produced by certain seaweed and algae in marine and fresh waters. Marine toxins are important to the scientific community for many reasons, the most obvious being that they pose food safety issues which requires a large investment from producing countries to regularly monitor the presence of these compounds in foods. For centuries we have been aware that some edible marine products contain toxins or poisons, and therefore we only eat those that are safe. However, phycotoxins accumulate in fish and shellfish from their diet and these toxins are carried up the food chain in edible aquatic products, which can pose harm to people when they reach a certain level.The presence of marine and aquatic toxins is now identified in geographical areas where they were never detected before, which is becoming a concern for food safety authorities as the expansion of water toxins worldwide is a serious threat. The legal change on the standards to control marine toxins has brought about concerns with regard to what toxins are leaking to food and not being identified by food regulators.Since the publication of the first edition, there have been major advances in the science of marine and aquatic toxins, and advances in toxicology, analytical chemistry and pharmacology suggest an update is much needed. This fully revised and updated edition includes several new chapters, including those on Ciguatoxins, Pinnatoxin, Tetrodotoxin, as well as new chapters on food safety control of marine toxins, climate change and water toxins, and microalgae as a source of nutraceuticals. The book presents the most up to date information available on phycotoxins, giving major emphasis to chemistry and biochemistry but also covering aspects of origin, mechanism of action, toxicology and analytical methodology."Phycotoxins: Chemistry and Biochemistry, second edition, "will be of interest to toxicologists, marine, food, and plant scientists, as well as researchers and academics in the areas of food science, medicine, public health, toxicology, pharmacology and marine biology.