Mycotoxins are a waste product of some microscopic fungi that develop in particular conditions. 
Many fungal species (Aspergillum, Fusarium, Penicillum) after having grown on food substrates, have the ability to produce toxic substances called Mycotoxins as secondary metabolites.
Almost all raw materials of plant origin are susceptible to contamination by mycotoxins; this can take place in the field, in the cultivation and harvest phases, in the warehouse and in the various transformation phases of the food industries, as well as in transport. Contaminations are very frequently found in cereals, coffee and cocoa, nuts and oil seeds.

Mycotoxins can easily be found in feed and food, such as baked goods, flaked cereals, beer, wine and spirits, juices, meats and eggs, milk, cheeses. All of this is due to the fact that these secondary metabolics are chemically stable molecules capable of resisting heat treatments and transformation and cooking processes.

Mycotoxins constitute a numerous group of chemically different compounds, capable of causing a toxic reaction whenever they are ingested by humans and animals, causing the onset of chronic or acute mycotoxicosis.

The particular Sicilian climatic conditions (low rainfall, high spring temperatures) generally greatly reduce the possibility of attacks on the ear. In fact, in a dry environment, infection often leads to the drying of the plant which has sterile spikes, thus causing production decreases rather than contamination by fungal spores. The grain of durum wheat produced in the particular Sicilian pedoclimatic environment is therefore preserved from the risk of fungal attacks and the consequent development of mycotoxins.