As chair of the organizing committee of the ISM 2011 Conference on "Strategies to reduce the impact of mycotoxins in Latin-America in a global context" it is my pleasure to invite you to this conference. The event is organized by the Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto in the frame of the EU Mycored project and co-organized by the International Society for Mycotoxicology (ISM) and The LatinAmerican Society for Mycotoxicology (SLAM).

The conference will be held in Mendoza, Argentina in November 15 to 18, 2011.

To increase the safety of food and feed stuff is a priority worldwide, mycotoxins are natural contaminants and the significant reduction of these contaminants in the food and feed industries is one of the key challenges to reach a better sanitary quality in the food market.

The aims of the conference are: -to highlight the new findings to reduce the mycotoxins contamination in the food and feed chains by the improvement and development of strategies that allow technical solutions at different stages of the agro-food chains, - to exchange know-how of scientists coming from different disciplines, -to open a discussion forum among stake holders, policy makers, academy, food chain managers, processors to continue working in reducing the mycotoxin impact in Latin-America in a global context, -to open the opportunities for networking among different institutions from the academy and the private sector.

The conference will include keynote lectures by international experts, oral presentations posters sessions, discussion group sessions.

Also commercial exhibition by sponsors dealing with the products of interest for the mycotoxicology area will participate in the conference by exhibition booths

On behalf of the Organizing Committee I am looking forward to welcoming you in Mendoza, Argentina

Dr Sofia Chulze