The Role of Plant Pathology in Food Safety and Food Security

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. The Role of Plant Pathology in Food Safety and Food Security

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Plant Diseases and the World’s Dependence on Rice

      • R. S. Zeigler, S. Savary

      Pages 3-9

   3. Development of Appropriate Strategies to Control Cassava Diseases in Ghana

      • E. Moses

      Pages 11-24

   4. Biosecurity in the Movement of Commodities as a Component of Global Food Security

      • N. A. van der Graaff, W. Khoury

      Pages 25-39

3. Global Food Security

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 42-42

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   2. ISPP and the Challenge of Food Security

      • Peter Scott, Richard Strange

      Pages 43-51

   3. Globalisation and the Threat to Biosecurity

      • Harry C. Evans, James M. Waller

      Pages 53-71

   4. Genetic Modification (GM) as a New Tool in the Resistance Toolbox

      • Thomas Hohn, Gabriele Schachermayr

      Pages 73-76

   5. The Role of Plant Pathology and Biotechnology in Food Security in Africa

      • James M. Onsando, Florence Wambugu

      Pages 77-86

4. Mycotoxins

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 88-88

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   2. The Secondary Metabolite Toxin, Sirodesmin PL, and Its Role in Virulence of the Blackleg Fungus

      • Barbara J. Howlett, Ellen M. Fox, Anton J. Cozijnsen, Angela P. Van de Wouw, Candace E. Elliott

      Pages 89-95

   3. Biological and Chemical Complexity of Fusarium proliferatum

      • Robert H. Proctor, Anne E. Desjardins, Antonio Moretti

      Pages 97-111

5. Biosecurity and Quarantine

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 114-114

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   2. Bioterrorism: A Threat to Plant Biosecurity?

      • J. P. Stack, F. Suffert, M. L. Gullino

      Pages 115-132

   3. The Revised International Plant Protection Convention – a New Context for Plant Quarantine

      • William Roberts

      Pages 133-136

   4. Pest Risk Analysis as Applied to Plant Pathogens

      • Françoise Petter, Sarah Brunel, Muriel Suffert

      Pages 137-150

6. Back Matter

   Pages 151-155

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This collection of papers represents some of those given at the International Congress for Plant Pathology held in Turin in 2008 in the session with the title “The Role of Plant Pathology in Food Safety and Food Security”. Although food safety in terms of “Is this food safe to eat?” did not receive much direct attention it is, never theless, an important topic. A crop may not be safe to eat because of its inh- ent qualities. Cassava, for example, is cyanogenic, and must be carefully prepared if toxicosis is to be avoided. Other crops may be safe to eat providing they are not infected or infested by microorganisms. Mycotoxins are notorious examples of compounds which may contaminate a crop either pre- or post-harvest owing to the growth of fungi. Two papers in this book deal with toxins, one by Barbara Howlett and co-workers and the other by Robert Proctor and co-workers. In the first of these, the role of sirodesmin PL, a compound produced by Leptosphaeria ma- lans, causal agent of blackleg disease of oilseed rape (Brassica napus), is discussed. The authors conclude that the toxin plays a role in virulence of the fungus and may also be beneficial in protecting the pathogen from other competing micro-organisms but there seem to be no reports of its mammalian toxicity.

• Fungi
• Metabolite
• Transport
• biotechnology
• food safety
• food security
• toxin

From the reviews:

“This is again a slender volume, with only 12 papers, but represents a rapidly expanding area of plant pathology. … They bring together a summary of work across the whole field of plant pathology … . They thus enable specialists to see their specialism as part of an integrated whole, and for students and those at the start of their careers they provide an invaluable summary of what is going on, who the key players are and where the knowledge lacunae lie.” (David Ingram, Food Security, Vol. 3, 2011)

• Birkbeck College, University of London, London, United Kingdom

  R.N. Strange

• Centro di Competenza per, Università di Torino, Grugliasco, Italy

  Maria Lodovica Gullino

Richard N. Strange is Senior Lecturer in Plant Pathology at University College London and has a special interest in the plant disease problems of developing countries. Maria Lodovica Gullino is a professor of plant pathology at the University of Torino and President of the International Society for Plant Pathology. She has long term experience in plant disease management.

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