There is no official estimate of the total financial loss each year due
fungal spoilage of frozen chicken nuggets. However, internal data
from a nugget factory suggest losses of production ranging between
1.0% and 1.5% in Brazil. Sivasankar (2002) conveniently define food
spoilage as having occurred when a consumer refuses it as food. This
may vary from society to society, person to person, or even from one
type of food to another. Fungal spoilage of food renders the food unacceptable
to the consumer, leading to monetary loss (Kotler, 2003).
Moreover, it can endanger health by exposing consumers to toxic secondary
metabolites produced by mycotoxins. Despite the importance
of this subject, very few studies have investigated fungal spoilage of
frozen foods (Hegazy & Agami, 2011; Kuhen & Gunderson, 1962, 1963).
This study aimed to assess the main fungal species involved in the
spoilage of frozen chicken nuggets aswell as to verify themain secondary
metabolites and mycotoxins that can be produced by the prevalent
species.