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Despite Substantial Progress in knowledge and application in regard to food safety, contaminated food and water remain a major public health problem. Mycotoxins, the toxic products of microscopic fungi, may also cause serious adverse health effects in human and animals. According to W. H. O. publication 1992, animal studies show that, besides acute intoxication, mycotoxins, specially aflatoxins, may have carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teraogenic effects. Certain studies suggest aflatoxins and hepatitis B virus are co - carcinogens and that the probability of liver cancer is higher in areas where both are prevalent. In order to have a true picture of production and consmllption of bread and the rate of damages and usage in Tehran, a survey conducted from Oct. 1990 to Oct. 1991.
This survey showed that 2500000 Kg of flour was distributed among 4500 bakeries. Due to inferior quality of the flour, unfavourable of ingerdients,
formulation., processing equipment, duration of baking, storage, and finally attitudes of the Tehranian people, about 507000 Kg misuseds bread per day which collected by 6300 wheelbarrows in an improper, ugly and unacceptable way and reuse for feeding animals and birds. specially cattles and domestic fowls or poultry. In order to detect and identify any presumptive fungal organism contamination or the losses and stales bread, 360 samples \-vere collected randomly from the wheelbarrows, storage centres, cattles and poultry breeding places and inoculated to Sabouraud' s dextrose agar chloramphenicol and other selection culture media and then differential tests, species identifcation done according to the laboratory di_gnosis of fungal organisms and comparing with control.
The results showed that all samples of wastebreads, contaminated at least to one fungal orgamsm.
The occurrence and abundance were pennicillium 35.7, Aspergillus 26.7, Rhizopous 16.38, Mucor 11.38, Mixed fungal contamination 4.44, Aspergillust Mucor 2, Pennicillium + Mucor 2 and Fusarium 1.4 percent.
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According to the results obtained from this survey and W. H. O. guideline, the collection and usage of misuseds bread in this manner is recommended to stop.