Abstract
Crops contaminated with fungal mycotoxins such as aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) are often downgraded or removed from the food chain. This study aimed to evaluate the tolerance and accumulation of AFB1 in two insect species to determine whether they could be used to retain condemned mycotoxin contaminated crops in the food chain. First, instar black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens, BSF) and yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor, YMW) were fed poultry feed spiked with AFB1 and formulated to contain levels of 0.01, 0.025, 0.05, 0.10, 0.25, and up to 0.5 mg/kg dry feed. Poultry feed without any additions and feed with only the solvent added served as controls. The AFB1 in the feed did not affect survival and body weight in the BSF and YMW larvae (p > 0.10), indicating a high tolerance to aflatoxin B1 in both species. Furthermore, AFB1 and aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) were below the detection limit (0.10 µg/kg) in BSF larvae, whereas the YMW had AFB1 levels that were approximately 10% of the European Union’s legal limit for feed materials and excreted AFM1. It is concluded that both BSF larvae and YMW have a high AFB1 tolerance and do not accumulate AFB1.
Highlights
The combination of the human population growing to 9 billion in 2050, increasing living standards, and urbanisation in developing countries fuels the global demand for food and in particular animal-derived protein [1]
For the yellow mealworms (YMW), survival was similar between dietary treatment groups (p > 0.10), but larvae fed the solvent-containing poultry feed tended to have a lower body weight than the larvae fed the feed without the solvent (p = 0.088)
For contents below the detection limit of the analytical method, the limit of 0.0001 mg/kg was used in the calculation; 2 Based on n = 2, as one sample as one sample extract did not pass the immuno-affinity clean-up column and was not analysed; 3 Aflatoxin B1 or M1 contents in all three samples were below detection limit (DL) of
Summary
The combination of the human population growing to 9 billion in 2050, increasing living standards, and urbanisation in developing countries fuels the global demand for food and in particular animal-derived protein [1]. To increasing food production, reducing waste in the food supply chain will contribute to global food security [1,4]. Within the food supply chain, suboptimal conditions on the field and during storage may lead to the growth of endophytic and saprophytic fungi that can produce mycotoxins [5]. Mycotoxin-contaminated cereals (e.g., maize, wheat, barley) and nuts (e.g., peanut, walnuts) can be deleterious to humans [6] and can reduce animal health and production [5,7,8]. Tighten their regulations and define maximum allowable mycotoxin concentrations in Toxins 2017, 9, 185; doi:10.3390/toxins9060185 www.mdpi.com/journal/toxins
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