**Acknowledgements**

**6. Trends in globalized agribusiness**

**Figure 7.** Corn importation in Japan, 2008 to 2014 [81].

and coffee.

156 Food Production and Industry

States.

Globalization demands quality and competitiveness throughout the food chain, as well as safe raw materials without deterioration. Agribusiness exports in Brazil reached US\$ 5.64 billion in January 2015, according to the foreign trade statistics system of Brazilian agribusiness [78]. The five main exporter states in Brazil were São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, whose participation represented approximately 69 % of total Brazilian exports, involving soy, sugar-alcohol complex, beef, chicken meat, soybean oil, cereal sales,

Brazil is currently the third-leading country in chicken production, behind the USA and China, and the leading exporter of chicken meat [79]. The long-term trade projection estimates a production of up to 20.576 million tons by 2023, corresponding to an increase of 46.4 % between the years 2013 and 2023. In addition, the exportation of meat has been forecasted at 4.675 million tons in 2023 [80]. Further, poultry (broilers and turkeys) trade long-term projections of the USDA (2015) indicate that exportation could reach up to 4.982 million tons in 2024.

In this scenario of globalized agribusiness, corn stands out as the major component of animal feed production [4]. Figure 7 shows a scenario concerning corn purchased as a raw material in a potential importer country. The trend for importing of Brazilian grains continues to depend on the decrease or delay of the American harvest of agriproducts due to the unmatched infrastructural facilities and the storage, transport and port system established in the United

The authors thank the NANOBIO/CAPES Foundation (the Co-ordination for Formation of High Level Professionals) - Ministry of Education, the CNPq (the Brazilian Government Organization for grant aid and fellowship to Brazilian researchers) - Ministry of Science & Technology, the CNPq/Ministry of Agriculture, the Araucaria Foundation, and the Parana State Fund/SETI for the financial support through projects. The authors also thank the CNPq for the productivity fellowships granted to researchers, as well as the CAPES for fellowships at the levels of Postdoctorate, Doctorate and Initiation in Science and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) for distinctive training support in Japan. A special thanks to Dr Yoshio Ueno (*in memoriam*) for introducing us to the advanced area of Microbial Toxins.
