Abstract
Fermented foods (FF) are widely consumed around the world, and FF are one of the prime sources of toxins and pathogenic microbes that are associated with several foodborne outbreaks. Mycotoxins (aflatoxins, fumonisins, sterigmatocystin, nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, ochratoxin, and alternariol), bacterial toxins (shiga toxin and botulinum), biogenic amines, and cyanogenic glycosides are the common toxins found in FF in addition to the pathogenic microbes. Fermented milk products and meat sausages are extremely vulnerable to contamination. Cumulative updated information about a specific topic such as toxins in FF is essential for the improvement of safer preparation and consumption of fermented foods. Accordingly, the current manuscript summarizes the reported mycotoxins, bacterial toxins, and/or toxins from other sources; detection methods and prevention of toxins in FF (use of specific starter culture, optimized fermentation process, and pre- and post-processing treatments); and major clinical outbreaks. This literature survey was made in Scopus, Web of Science, NCBI-PubMed, and Google Scholar using the search terms “Toxins” and “Fermented Foods” as keywords. The appropriate scientific documents were screened for relevant information and they were selected without any chronological restrictions.
Highlights
Fermented foods (FFs) are an important part of the Asian diet
The grains, barley, and maize used for the beer production, locally brewed and commercial alcohol beverages, were screened for the mycotoxin producer, and it was discovered that the grains contain Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Mucor spp., and Rhizopus spp., and some commercial beverages contained aflatoxins while some local beverages contained ochratoxin A and zearalenone [10]
The results suggested that ochratoxin (0.2 μg/kg) and deoxynivalenol were present in the sample in trace amounts, and the biological testing study revealed that the consumption of attieke is safe [11]
Summary
Fermented foods (FFs) are an important part of the Asian diet. It has been predicted that the global market for fermented products and ingredients may reach up to $28.4 billion by 2022. Every fermented product is prepared with different processing methods, even when they have a common base ingredient. Milk is the base ingredient of Koumiss, Kefir, Ayran, Torba, and Kurut, which are prepared with different processing methods [4]. Several precautions were made in the food processing industries to ensure high-quality product making and safe maximum residual levels of pathogenic microbes and toxins in the food products. This current review summarizes the common toxins in FF and their sources and prevention measures along with a short note on clinical outbreaks of FF. The appropriate scientific documents (research article, review papers, short communications, and opinions) were screened for the relevant information and they were selected without any chronological restrictions
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