According to an article in Chemistry Research in Toxicology, current government limits on mold toxins in grain crops fail to account for so-called “masked mycotoxins,” which transform from harmless when outside the body to potentially harmful when inside it.
Chiara Dall’Asta and colleagues say that mold growing on wheat, corn and other plants produces toxic substances called mycotoxins. Plants protect themselves by conjugating glucose, sulfur or other substances to the mycotoxin, producing conjugated mycotoxins that are not harmful to the grain.