The growth of fungi may result in several kinds of food-spoilage:
off-flavours, discolouration, rotting and formation of pathogenic or allergenic
propagules. Moreover many foodborne fungi produce mycotoxins and thus
fungal growth in foods and feeds should be avoided. Much interest has also
grown for the fungi present in indoor environments, since exposure to airborne
biological agents in both the occupational and residential environments could
be associated with a wide range of adverse health effects with major public
health impact, including infectious diseases, acute toxic effects, allergies and
cancer. An interactive identification tool was created for food- and airborne
microfungi at the genus and/or species level, based on morphological and
physiological data, using the software FRIDA. The interactive key can also
be stored on CD- or DVD-roms, or used on media such as PocketPCs of
Smartphones. Our key allows the identification of 59 genera/groups and 217
species belonging mainly to Zygomycota and anamorphic and teleomorphic
Ascomycota. The database comes with a set of detailed descriptions of each
genus and species, a rich archive of images, a glossary of the most frequent
mycological terms, and references to descriptions; in addition, culture
condition requirements for identification are provided.
