Lisa cracks corn secrets, finds no major kernel bogey
Published on 24 February, 2011
CQUniversity environmental toxicologist Lisa Bricknell has done a widespread study of Australia's corn crops and corn-based products sold in our supermarkets...
She's spent years trying to find out if we should be concerned about a range of fungal toxins that can grow on corn.
Lisa Bricknell with some samples of corn
The take-home result? Aussie farmers treat their corn with such care that there's rarely any outbreaks of fungal toxins at levels that would be of concern.
However, some imported products such as American corn puffs could be of concern if consumed in large amounts, probably because they have been made from distressed corn crops.
Lisa explains that healthy corn crops rarely harbour dangerous levels of fungal toxins, and most Australian farmers are producing corn in optimal conditions.
However, there is some worry that climate change could produce hotter and drier conditions over the longer-term, increasing the potential for high-toxin crops.
Lisa says she enjoys looking at how the environment causes toxins which can affect humans, as opposed to examining how humans produce toxins affecting the environment.
She's also a top lecturer and current recipient of Faculty and Vice-Chancellor awards for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, for challenging and inspiring students to examine environmental health issues from both national and global perspectives.
Lisa uses innovative problem-based learning activities, based on real-life circumstances, and she also contributes to the scholarship of learning and teaching.
On the community engagement front, she has accepted an invitation to be a guest lecturer for North Rockhampton State High School students studying home economics and hospitality subjects.
