Background. The quality of the final product in industries such as bakery, winemaking, brewing, and sausage and cheese making often deteriorates due to the development of food spoilage microbes. Filamentous fungi and their toxic metabolites, known as mycotoxins, are among the factors that significantly reduce food quality and seriously threaten food safety. Mycotoxins cause biochemical, physiological and pathological changes in living organisms and have a toxic effect even at low concentrations. The threat to food safety posed by pathogenic fungi and their metabolites has prompted the search for new ways to reduce their entry into the food chain.
Results and conclusions. In recent years, much attention has been paid to biopreservation methods. Biopreservation refers to extending shelf life and enhancing food safety using indigenous or added microorganisms and their antimicrobial metabolites. Starter cultures of yeast antagonistic against toxigenic fungi can contribute to the product’s safety, primarily by inhibiting the  growth of pathogens during the fermentation process and improving the stability of this process. This review describes the main problems related to the occurrence of fungi in food industries and  the strategies for reducing the presence of fungi and mycotoxins in food. Focus is placed in particular on the use of yeast as antifungal microorganisms tested for food bioprotection, and their  mechanisms of action.