Abstract
Mycotoxin contamination continues to be a food safety concern globally, with the most toxic being aflatoxins. On-farm aflatoxins, during food transit or storage, directly or indirectly result in the contamination of foods, which affects the liver, immune system and reproduction after infiltration into human beings and animals. There are numerous reports on aflatoxins focusing on achieving appropriate methods for quantification, precise detection and control in order to ensure consumer safety. In 2012, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, M1 and M2 as group 1 carcinogenic substances, which are a global human health concern. Consequently, this review article addresses aflatoxin chemical properties and biosynthetic processes; aflatoxin contamination in foods and feeds; health effects in human beings and animals due to aflatoxin exposure, as well as aflatoxin detection and detoxification methods.
Highlights
Food contamination is a global concern in the stages of the production, distribution and consumption of agricultural and processed products [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
The same methods were employed by Bahrami et al, to evaluate the Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) occurrence in traditional dairy products, and the results indicated an AFM1 prevalence of 44.6%, 65.3% and 84.3% in the raw goat, cow and sheep milk, respectively [120]
The detection of AFs is performed by several conventional methods based on the emission and absorption characteristics, such as liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) [126], thin layer chromatography (TLC) [127], gas chromatography (GC) [128], high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [129], immunoaffinity column assay (ICA) [130], and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) [131]
Summary
Food contamination is a global concern in the stages of the production, distribution and consumption of agricultural and processed products [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Aflatoxin-related contamination by fungi can occur in food and feed products (e.g., cocoa, spices, figs, rice, wheat, maize, sesame seeds, millet, and groundnuts) during the processes before and after harvesting [40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52]. Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that 25% of global food crops can be contaminated by mycotoxins [53]. Because of the adverse effects of AFs, these compounds have been included in the European Union’s Rapid Alert and Food Alert System (RASFF) in 2008 [55]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
