Interesting reference to rodent sh.t and toxic fungus.

There is plenty of rodent sh.t in flour. From the farm field to the
farm storage bin to the flour mill to the warehouse to the storage room
in your typical bakery. There is rodent sh.t along the entire way. I
worked for a pest control company in my younger days. You would not
believe how much rodent sh.t grains and flours are exposed to.

And one of the flour "improvers" is a *fungus* derived alpha-amylase.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1
2908861&dopt=Abstract

quote -
Enzymes in flour improver, in particular fungal alpha-amylase, are
known to be a significant cause of respiratory allergy in the baking
industry. This study measured total inhalable dust and fungal
alpha-amylase exposures in U.K. bakeries, mills, and a flour improver
production and packing facility and determined whether assignment of
job description could identify individuals with the highest exposures
to fungal alpha-amylase and inhalable dust.
- unquote

http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/60/10/802

quote -
Enzymes are widely used in a variety of industries, to effect chemical
changes on a range of substrates. The baking industry began adding
exogenous enzymes in the 1970s, and this use has increased over the
past 30 years. Many of these enzymes are Aspergillus derived and
include -amylase, cellulase, and hemicellulase (especially xylanase),
all of which are added to flour to improve dough quality and shelf life
of the product.

Although much work has focused on fungal -amylase,1-2 there are a few
reports, which highlight the potential of other commonly added enzymes
to induce respiratory health effects in susceptible individuals.3-6
Quirce et al investigated five bakers with work related respiratory
symptoms. They measured specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) to both
cellulase and -amylase in four of the workers, and specific IgE
antibodies to -amylase only, in one of the workers. No cross reactivity
between the two enzymes was shown. Additionally Baur and colleagues5
showed sensitisation to hemicellulase in symptomatic bakers and in a
case report, reported the presence of specific IgE antibodies to
xylanase.6

We have previously described7 the association between work related
respiratory symptoms in bakers and the presence of specific IgE to
wheat flour and fungal -amylase. This present paper reports the
subsequent analysis of serum with respect to other added enzymes, and
examines how these relate to respiratory and nasal symptoms.
- unquote

http://www.food.rdg.ac.uk/online/fs916/lect12/lect12.htm

quote -
Fungal alpha-amylases are added to dough as part of a "flour improver".

- unquote

quote -
Industrial enzyme preparations are never pure. They are usually a
concentrate of a culture supernatant of the producing species or a
dried form of such a concentrate. Depending upon the enzyme and
producing species they will typically contain many other enzymes
usually referred to as "side activities".
- unquote

Do a google on "flour improver fungal" and do some reading.

TC