Amount Of Aflatoxin Research Articles

First report of aflatoxin and ochratoxin contamination in ginger collected from different agroclimatic zones from Punjab, Pakistan

Ginger, a fresh rhizome, an economically important spice with extensive nutraceutical activities finds itself in vegetable and therapeutic market. Aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2) along with ochratoxin A (OTA) are the most significant and the most toxic form of mycotoxins which are produced by various fungi. This study was initiated to assess the contamination of AFs and OTA in raw and dried ginger products, collected from different agro-climatic zones in Punjab, Pakistan employing the high performance liquid chromatography. We found all (raw ginger samples commercial ginger powders) samples contaminated with AFB1 (range: 29.88-1060.12μg/kg). AFB2 contamination was much lower (range: 0 to 17.54μg/kg). Variable contamination of AFG1 was also observed (range: 0 to 170.58μg/kg) whereas AFG2 contamination was found in only three (range: 0 to 21.88 μg/kg) out of 19 raw ginger samples. OTA contamination ranged from 0.05-3.42μg/kg. Ginger samples from lower altitudes (<1000 m) were more contaminated with AFB1 sub type mycotoxin. Keeping in view that the toxicity of AFs is in the order of B1>G1> B2>G2, it was alarming to find that 100% of the samples were contaminated with AFB1 way beyond the permissible limits. Our very first report about the contamination of ginger with AFs presents a grave health issue because of wide use of ginger. We conclude that ginger production in Pakistan needs to be carefully crafted and due diligence is needed during ginger cultivation, harvest and post-harvest operations because the amount of aflatoxins detected in this study are very much above the permissible limits. In this regard, ginger storage in cooler environments such as refrigerator should be encouraged to contain the AFs proliferation.

How does active yeast supplementation reduce the deleterious effects of aflatoxins in Wistar rats? A radiolabeled assay and histopathological study

The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms by which yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) control the toxic effects of aflatoxins, which are not yet fully understood. Radiolabeled aflatoxin B1 (AFB13H) was administered by gavage to Wistar rats fed with aflatoxin (AflDiet) and aflatoxin supplemented with active dehydrated yeast Y904 (AflDiet + Yeast). The distribution of AFB13H and its metabolites were analyzed at 24, 48 and 72 h by tracking back of the radioactivity. No significant differences were observed between the AflDiet and AflDiet + Yeast groups in terms of the distribution of labeled aflatoxin. At 72 h, for the AflDiet group the radiolabeled aflatoxin was distributed as following: feces (79.5%), carcass (10.5%), urine (1.7%), and intestine (7.4%); in the AflDiet + Yeast the following distribution was observed: feces (76%), carcass (15%), urine (2.9%), and intestine (4.9%). These values were below 1% in other organs. These findings indicate that even after 72 h considerable amounts of aflatoxins remains in the intestines, which may play a significant role in the distribution and metabolism of aflatoxins and its metabolites over time. The presence of yeast may not significantly affect this process. Furthermore, histopathological examination of hepatic tissues showed that the presence of active yeast reduced the severity of liver damage caused by aflatoxins, indicating that yeasts control aflatoxin damage through biochemical mechanisms. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of yeasts against aflatoxin toxicity.Graphical abstract

Current Strategies in Controlling Aspergillus flavus and Aflatoxins in Grains during Storage: A Review

Aspergillus flavus is a ubiquitous pathogen that can infect many foods and grains, and it produces large amounts of aflatoxins during their storage. Aflatoxins are considered highly toxic and carcinogenic to humans, and they cause great damage to crop production, food security, and human health. Thus, controlling A. flavus and aflatoxins in grains presents a great challenge to humans worldwide. Over the past decade, many strategies have been demonstrated to be useful in controlling A. flavus and aflatoxins during food storage. These methods involve physical agents, chemical agents, biological agents, etc. Some of these methods are currently used in actual production. In this review, we summarize the reported methods for controlling A. flavus and aflatoxins during food storage in the past ten years and elucidate their advantages and disadvantages. The methods discussed include irradiation technology; low oxygen atmospheres; chemical fungicides (benzalkonium chloride, iodine, ammonium bicarbonate, and phenolic and azole compounds); biological agents from plants, animals, and micro-organisms; and aflatoxin elimination methods. We expect that this review will promote the applications of current strategies and be useful for the development of novel technologies to prevent or eliminate A. flavus and aflatoxins in food and feed during storage.

Pathological effects of feeding aflatoxin-contaminated feed on immune status and reproductive performance of juvenile white leghorn males and its mitigation with ∝-tocopherol and Moringa oleifera.

This study was planned to detect the adverse pathological consequences of aflatoxin B1 in White Leghorn (WLH) layer breeder males. Eight-week-old male layer cockerels were separated into six experimental categories: A group was kept as negative control, offered with normal feed only; group B was fed with 400ppb amount of aflatoxin, while groups F and D fed with normal feed and supplemented with vitamin E 100ppm and 1% Moringa oleifera, respectively, whereas groups E and C were fed with 400ppb aflatoxin containing feed and ameliorated with vitamin E 100ppm and 1% Moringa oleifera, respectively. This study was continued for 2months and immunologic disorders and reproductive parameters were observed during the trial. To find out immunological status lymphoproliferative response to phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P), antibody titers against sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) and carbon clear assay were performed by collecting samples from five birds from each group. The whole data was measured by ANOVA test, and group means were compared by DMR test by using M-Stat C software. Regarding the reproductive status, spermatogenesis, blood testosterone level, testes weight, testes histology, sperm motility, and morphology were negatively affected by aflatoxins, but these deviations positively ameliorated by vitamin E and Moringa. Vitamin E and Moringa found advantageous in boosting the immune status of affected bird.All the immunological parameters including antibody titers against sheed red blood cells, lymphoproliferativeresponse to avian tuberculin and phagocytic potential of macrophages were suppressed by AFB1 however incontrol, Moringa and vitamin E groups these immunological responses were significantly higher.

The Determination of Mycotoxins in the Composition of Walnut (Juglans Regia L.) Fruits Cultivated in Different Geographical Regions of Uzbekistan by High–Performance Liquid Chromatography Method and Their Comparative Analysis

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by various fungi and are known to have significant adverse effects on human and animal health. If food products are contaminated with mycotoxins, their toxicity can cause various diseases. In this scientific research work, residual mycotoxins in nutrients were combined with liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) and analyzed through the use of reversed–phase high–performance liquid chromatography (RP–HPLC). These scientific studies were conducted in the experimental biology laboratory of Gulistan State University to determine the amount of aflatoxin (AFB2, AFG1, AFG2) in the samples of walnuts cultivated in six regions of Uzbekistan. The study revealed the detection of aflatoxins AFG1 type 0.003 in the designated region labeled as S20, AFB2 and AFG2 0.001 in J25, and AFG2 0.002 in S30. However, it is important to note that these levels did not above the maximum residue level standards established by the Republic of Uzbekistan. However, the aflatoxins produced by fungi are released based on the development of fungi at a temperature of 25–3000C, therefore it is recommended to store walnut fruits in dry conditions at a temperature of 1500C. All the methods used during scientific analysis can demonstrate high sensitivity and accuracy. All methods are successfully used to identify mycotoxins in the composition of walnut fruits, separate them from fungi and specify the amount of ingredients.

Synthesis of a core-shell magnetic covalent organic framework for the enrichment and detection of aflatoxin in food using HPLC-MS/MS.

A porous magnetic covalent organic framework, Fe3O4@TPBD-TPA (terephthalaldehyde (TPA) , N, N, N', N'-tetrakis(p-aminophenyl)-p-phenylenediamine (TPBD)), was synthesized using the Schiff base reaction under mild reactionconditions. This adsorbent exhibited excellent adsorption performance for aflatoxins. The adsorption capacity of Fe3O4@TPBD-TPA for aflatoxins ranged from 64.4 to 84.4 mg/g. A magnetic solid-phase extraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method based on Fe3O4@TPBD-TPA was developed for the efficient determination of four types of aflatoxins in food samples (maize, maize oil, peanut, and peanut oil). The determination coefficients (R2) were ≥0.9972. The method exhibited detection limits ranging from 0.01 to 0.06 μg/kg and spiked recoveries of 80.0 to 113.1%. The intra-day and inter-day precision were less than 6.77%, indicating good repeatability. The adsorbent showed promising prospects for the efficient enrichment of trace amounts of aflatoxins in complex food matrices.

Aflatoxin levels in poultry feed: a comparison of mash and pellet forms

The current research was conducted to determine the aflatoxigenic and non-aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus isolates and the frequency of aflatoxin levels (B1, B2, G1, G2), in main feed ingredients (corn and soybean meal) and poultry finished feed (in mash and pellet forms). Eighty-five samples of corn, soybean meal, and poultry finished feed was randomly collected from feed mills in Iran. Regarding macro and microscopic morphological criteria, Aspergillus isolates were identified, and aflatoxins were determined by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). All of poultry feed samples were contaminated with different levels of aflatoxins, ranging from ND (they were not detected in those samples) to 5.58 µg/kg. At all stages of processing, the poultry feed had lower levels of aflatoxins in comparison with the accepted/residue levels of poultry feed mills. Higher amounts of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2, and total) were detected in pelleted feed, compared to other poultry samples (P < 0.05). The total toxin level in mash feed samples reached a maximum of 3.31 ppb. The results indicate that finished feed samples in pellet form may pose a greater risk than their individual ingredients in poultry feed, particularly when suboptimal conditions exist for eliminating fungal populations. So, the prevention and reduction of (Aspergillus section Flavi) are highly important in maintaining quality control of poultry feed, as the production of aflatoxins can occur during the process of converting raw ingredients into finished feed.

Impact of Seasonal Variations (Aflatoxin M1 &amp; Heavy metals) on Quality of Marketed Milk

This study thoroughly examined the safety and quality of commercially accessible milk in light of the growing concerns about food safety and its effects on public health. Objective: To monitor the amount of aflatoxin and heavy metals found in commercially available milk from different cities in central Punjab, Pakistan. Method: The collection of milk samples was done from three major cities in central Punjab, including Lahore, Faisalabad, and Jhang, to measure the contamination of Aflatoxin M1 and heavy metals from 2018-2019. Results: The maximum concentration of AFM1 (0.38-1.65µg/L) was observed in the semi-flush season from Lahore, followed by Faisalabad (0.37-1.63 µg/L) and Jhang (0.35-1.62µg/L) whereas, the minimum concentration of AFM1 (0.15-0.46µg/L) was observed during the lean season in the milk samples procured from Jhang, followed by Faisalabad (0.17-0.47µg/L) and Lahore (0.18-0.49µg/L). The levels of lead and cadmium in milk samples fluctuated seasonally, with Lahore having the highest contamination (Pb: 0.062ng/L, cadmium: 0.037ng/L), followed by Faisalabad and Jhang. Milk sample %ages exceeded the national and international aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) maximum residual limits (MRL). Conclusion: All milk samples from different milking seasons were above the EU's maximum residual level of 0.05µg/L. They were still within the Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority's (10µg/L) recommended range.

Biological reduction of aflatoxin M1 in dairy products using probiotic strains: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Aflatoxins are naturally occurring toxic substances produced mainly by species of the genus Aspergillus that can contaminate almost all foodstuffs. Apart from the harmful effects they have on human and animal health, they can be secreted unchanged in animal milk and cause contamination of milk and its products. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the major and most toxic type of aflatoxin after aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). The use of probiotic strains to reduce the amount of aflatoxin in milk and by-products has been observed in many studies. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, articles in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and ISI Web of Science were searched to find eligible studies that reported reduction of AFM1 using probiotics in dairy products. The results were pooled using a random-effects model. In most studies, the efficiency of probiotics in milk has been tested by Lactobacillus strains. The results indicated that probiotic microorganisms could significantly reduce AFM1 by 55.76% (confidence interval (CI): 54.35%, 57.16%; I2 = 100%). Besides, the rank order of AFM1 reduction in dairy products based on probiotic strain subgroup was: Lactobacillus 51.99% (CI: 50.14%, 53.85%, I2 = 100%), Saccharomyces 67.36% (CI: 65.05%, 69.67%, I2 = 100%), Bifidobacterium 54.80% (CI: 54.18%, 55.43%, I2 = 99.9%), and 61.90% (CI: 53.80%, 70.00%, I2 = 100%) by a mix of strains. Considering the high binding potential of AFM1 to probiotic strains, these microorganisms can be recommended as a safe system to reduce AFM1 in dairy products.

Daya Saing Biji Pala Indonesia di Pasar Internasional

Indonesia is a nutmeg exporter with the highest export value during 2012‒2020. However, the growth of Indonesia's export value is lower than its competitors. Therefore, to maintain its position as a major exporter, it is important to know its competitiveness. This study aims to explain the competitiveness of Indonesian nutmeg in the world and in ten export destinations. In addition, this study was conducted to analyze the competitive position in the export destination market. The study uses secondary data from UN Comtrade. The data are Indonesian export values of whole and powdered nutmeg in the international market and in ten destination countries during 2012‒2020. The data were processed using revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and dynamic revealed comparative advantage (DRCA) analysis. The results showed that Indonesian whole and powdered nutmeg were competitive in the world market. However, the competitiveness is lower than nutmeg competitiveness of Sri Lanka. Indonesian nutmegs in ten destination markets are also competitive, with the highest competitiveness being in Italy and Germany. Nevertheless, the always positive growth of competitiveness from two products occurred in Japan, thus make Japan's competitive position in rising star during the period of 2018‒2020. Increasing the competitiveness of nutmeg can be done by increasing the export value of the product through regulations by the government regarding post-harvest handling so that there is only a small amount of aflatoxin. In addition, the government can more focus on increasing exports to Japan.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: competitiveness, dynamic revealed comparative advantage, revealed comparative advantage, nutmeg

Silver nanoparticles and quinoa peptide enriched nanocomposite films for the detoxification of aflatoxins in pistachio

ABSTRACT Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites produced by certain filamentous fungi such as Aspergillus flavus and may pose severe risks to human health. The presence of aflatoxins in commercial food products such as pistachio can bring severe economic drawbacks during harvest, production, and exportation. This study aimed to reduce aflatoxin levels in raw pistachio by active food packaging film enriched with silver nanoparticles and quinoa peptides and extend the shelf-life. The pistachios contaminated with Aspergillus flavus were packaged in a nanocomposite film enriched with silver nanoparticles, quinoa peptide with antifungal properties, and low-density polyethylene at varying percentages. Then, all samples were stored at 25°C for 30 days. The amount of Aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxin (B1, B2, G1, and G2) were measured with high-performance liquid chromatography. The results showed that the percentage of film composition and time significantly affected aflatoxin values during storage (P < 0.05). The control sample had the highest amount of aflatoxins, while the sample was packaged with a film containing 35% silver nanoparticles, and the quinoa peptide had the lowest amount of aflatoxin at the end of the storage period. Based on the results obtained, the combined use of silver nanoparticles and quinoa peptides in pistachio packaging reduced aflatoxins and increased the shelf life of raw pistachio.

Emerging technologies in combination with probiotics for aflatoxins removal: an updated review

SummaryAflatoxins are known for their high toxicity, and their presence in food is associated with a high health risk. The levels were set for aflatoxin in different foodstuffs to protect public health. Various chemical, physical, and biological methods have been reported for decontamination and detoxifying aflatoxins. Among biological methods, probiotics have an important role in the decontamination of aflatoxins. At the same time, some emerging food processing technologies showed promising results in aflatoxin degradation. This article reviewed significant studies of the last four years that investigated the effects of probiotics on the degradation rate of aflatoxins. Discussions on the possible contribution of emerging technologies along with probiotics are also provided. The results showed that the bioavailability of aflatoxins was reduced by adsorption or binding to probiotics’ cell walls, which increased their excretion rate. Besides, the amount of aflatoxin absorbed by probiotics depends on several parameters, including the complexity of the food matrix. Therefore, probiotics can be used as an effective method to reduce the absorption of aflatoxins in combination with other methods.

Aflatoxin contaminated cocoa beans classification using near-infrared spectroscopy

Introduction: Due to the fact that the presence of high doses of aflatoxin in agricultural products such as cocoa beans is unacceptable in terms of national and international standards, appropriate quality control tests should prevent such products to entering in the process of processing cocoa beans. Conventional methods of detecting aflatoxins such as ELISA and HPLC are very time consuming, expensive and require expertise, so replacing these tests with non-destructive and rapid methods such as near-infrared spectroscopy can increase the detection efficiency. Brado et al. (Berardo et al., 2005) used infrared spectroscopy to evaluate and diagnose Fusarium verticillium, which produces fumonicin toxin in maize. Manvar et al. (Mohammadi Manvar, 2015) used transmission and reflection Infrared spectroscopy to detect aflatoxin levels in Iranian pistachios. Singh et al. (2012) used hyperspectral imaging in the range of 700-1100 nm to detect fungal contamination of Penicillium SPP, Aspergillus Glaucus, and Aspergillus Niger in wheat. Kandpal et al. (Kandpal et al., 2015) in a research work using hyperspectral imaging in the range of 700-1100nm classified grains of maize contaminated with aflatoxin toxin using PLS-DA into five groups. In current study, an attempt was made to detect the amount of aflatoxin in cocoa beans using infrared spectroscopy and to classify healthy and infected beans into groups.Materials and methods: In this research, 180 cocoa beans, each weighing 1 gram, were selected to do analyses. One mg of aflatoxin B1 powder (A. flavus, A 6636, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo USA) was prepared from Sigma Aldrich representative in Iran and by dissolving this powder in absolute ethanol and concentrations of 20µg/kg, 500µg/kg was obtained as mentioned. For cocoa bean spectroscopy, a near infrared spectrometer in Shiraz University Central Laboratory (NIRS XDS Rapid Content Analysis) was used, which has the ability to spectroscopy in the range of 400-2500 nm. PLS-DA method was used to classify aflatoxin-infected samples from healthy samples. All 180 experimental samples were divided into two groups of training (120 samples) and test (60 samples) and the constructed model was first calibrated with training values and then evaluated with test data. Due to the fact that some noise is always stored in the spectral data and in order to remove this noise, a series of mathematical pretreatment, including: first and second derivatives was used (Chen et al., 2013; Nicolai et al., 2007).Results & Discussion: Comparing the average amount of infrared reflection spectrum, it is revealed that healthy grains have less reflection intensity than infected grains. Also, there are a number of local maximums and minimums where the difference in reflective intensity is more pronounced than elsewhere, and this phenomenon is due to the different concentrations of toxins in cocoa beans. After applying the second Savitzie Golay derivative pretreatment and performing PLS-DA classification using two latent variables, the distinction between classes can be clearly seen. The separation rate of the samples on the second LV is more specific, however, the second and first class samples in this LV have a closer score to each other. The peaks observed at 1440 nm and 1482 nm according to the first Everton O-H bond can be related to fungal contamination (Berardo et al., 2005; C. D. Sirisomboon et al., 2013). Also, the peak at 1838 nm is related to the tensile C-H bond, which can be related to the CH2 groups. According to the results obtained from the calibration, cross-validation and testing sections, it is determined that the degree of calibration error (ER) and the degree of error-free calibration (NER) in the pretreatment mode with the second-order derivative of Savitz Golay are the lowest and highest values, respectively. Also, in this pretreatment for the calibration model and testing, the specificity index for the first, second and third class samples are equal to 1.00, which means that all classes are correctly classified. In the cross-validation model, the value of the specificity index for the third class (samples with 500 ppb contamination) is equal to 97%. This indicates that 97% of infected seeds are correctly classified in the third group and only 3% in the other groups are incorrectly classified.Conclusion: The present study demonstrates the feasibility of near-infrared spectroscopy to identify and classify cocoa beans contaminated with aflatoxin. The results showed that the coefficients of independent variables (spectral wavelengths including 1440, 1482 and 1838 nm) decreased according to increasing in the concentration of toxin. Finally, it can be said that the method of detecting aflatoxin contamination using infrared spectroscopy is an efficient, non-destructive and fast method.

Simplified Synthesis and Stability Assessment of Aflatoxin B1-Lysine and Aflatoxin G1-Lysine.

Aflatoxins B1 (AFB1) and G1 (AFG1) are carcinogenic mycotoxins that contaminate crops such as maize and groundnuts worldwide. The broadly accepted method to assess chronic human aflatoxin exposure is by quantifying the amount of aflatoxin adducted to human serum albumin. This has been reported using ELISA, HPLC, or LC-MS/MS to measure the amount of AFB1-lysine released after proteolysis of serum albumin. LC-MS/MS is the most accurate method but requires both isotopically labelled and unlabelled AFB1-lysine standards, which are not commercially available. In this work, we report a simplified synthetic route to produce unlabelled, deuterated and 13C6 15N2 labelled aflatoxin B1-lysine and for the first-time aflatoxin G1-lysine. Additionally, we report on the stability of these compounds during storage. This simplified synthetic approach will make the production of these important standards more feasible for laboratories performing aflatoxin exposure studies.

Thermal and digital imaging information acquisition regarding the development of Aspergillus flavus in pistachios against Aspergillus carbonarius in table grapes

The phenotypic diagnostics in food mycology exhibit hysteresis in fungal detection during the early stages since hyphal and fruiting structures become visible only in advanced growth stage. Aspergillus flavus is a saprotrophic and pathogenic fungus colonizing cereal grains, legumes, and tree nuts. This fungus produces significant quantities of aflatoxins which have nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, teratogenic and immunosuppressive effects on humans. The spatial temperature heterogeneity of A. flavus in infected pistachios was assessed by means of thermal imaging along with the digital RGB imaging analysis. The image analysis in terms of hue angle, exhibited not significant variation of non-infected pistachios compared to the infected ones at the early stages of fungal invasion but it became significantly different 72 h since infection. The fungal growth rate was assessed by comparing the Weibull shape factor of pistachios inoculated with A. flavus against grapes inoculated with A. carbonarius. The latter showed that the first 6 h since inoculation showed similar growth rate (∂β¯/∂t=6.7) while between 6 and 20 h showed lesser but almost double growth rate of the infected grapes (∂β¯grapes/∂t=5.4) against the infected pistachios (∂β¯pistachios/∂t=2.2). Infected pistachios and grapes were both stored at 28 °C and 60% RH, hence, the noted variation in growth rate should be fungus and substrate dependent. The peak of the temporal variation of the Weibull shape factor in pistachios and grapes extends between 15 and 20 h since inoculation, while for the infected grapes it is 71% higher than the one of the infected pistachios, revealing a distinctive fungal growth rate.

Efficiency of calcined Aluminum-Magnesium layered double hydroxide for adsorption of aflatoxin M1 from solution and matrix of milk.

Detoxification of aflatoxin M1 from solution and milk using layered double hydroxides was investigated. The Aluminum-Magnesium layered double hydroxide (Al-Mg LDH) and Iron-Magnesium layered double hydroxide (Fe-Mg LDH) were selected in their calcined and non-calcined forms to evaluate the effect of the calcination on detoxification. These materials were produced using the co-precipitation method. Preliminary adsorption tests confirmed use of Al-Mg LDH as the selected adsorbent. Characteristics of the adopted adsorbent were studied and confirmed by XRD, FTIR, SEM, and BET methods. Effects of the initial content of aflatoxin, amount of the adsorbents and detoxification time were investigated. Influence of the adsorbents on the nutritional aspects of milk were also studied. The study showed that while the non-calcined forms of LDH were not able to adsorb aflatoxin M1 more than 23%, the calcined form of Al-Mg LDH exhibited 100% adsorption in the solutions and about 70-100% in the contaminated milk samples. The reason is pointed to the fact that calcination of Al-Mg LDH considerably increased the surface area, the total pore volume, and the pore size of the material. Multivariate regression analysis and calculation of the Pearson correlation factor showed that the remained aflatoxin at each time was more strongly correlated with the initial amount of aflatoxin and the elapsed time and less strongly with the amount of the adsorbent. It was found that the adsorption isotherms fitted to the Freundlich equation with a high adsorption capacity of 555.5 mg g-1. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This study is focused on examining ability of layered double hydroxides (LDH) for adsorbing AFM1 . LDHs are promising layered materials due to some of their interesting characteristics, such as ease of synthesis and uniqueness of structure. In practice, results of this study can be used for detoxification of aflatoxin, especially in milk, at high efficiency in shorter time durations.

Extraction Methods’ Effects on Aflatoxin Concentration during Sunflower Oil Processing: First Report

Sunflower oil is one of the most known edible vegetable oil in the world. Although there are few studies on the presence of aflatoxin in sunflower seeds there are no studies on aflatoxin transfer to sunflower oil. In this study, not only was it demonstrated that there could be a toxin transfer from aflatoxin-contaminated raw materials to the oil, but it was also investigated how the extraction methods used for oil extraction from oilseeds affect the amount of aflatoxin transferred to the oil. Sunflower seeds, which are aflatoxin free were spiked 5 and 10 µg/kg and oil extraction was performed. It was found the transfer of aflatoxin to the oil was statistically significant in terms of the methods and amounts of inoculation (p&lt;0.05). The amount of total aflatoxin retained in the oil obtained from the sunflower seeds spiked with 5 µg/kg and 10 µg/kg of aflatoxins were respectively, 2.76 (55.2%) and 5.77 (57.7%) µg/kg in the cold press, 1.87 (37.4%) and 4.69 (46.9%) µg/kg in the press from roasted seeds, 0.91 (18.2%) and 1.96 (19.6%) µg/kg in the solvent (hexane) extraction. It was found that the best method is solvent (hexane) extraction for transfers the lowest aflatoxin to the oils.

Carcinogenic Properties of Aflatoxins in Maize Production and Recent Technologies Involved

Aflatoxins are the carcinogenic, mutagenic and highly toxic secondary metabolite, which is produced by two species of fungus such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus mostly. These two types of fungus contaminate the cereals crops such as maize, cotton, rice and spices. These are naturally occurring toxins all over the world. There are 20 different types of aflatoxins but out of six have significance importance for instance, AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, AFM1 and AFM2. Most commonly, AFB1 and AFB2 are present in the maize crops and M1 and M2 present in the milk and dairy products. Even the small amounts of aflatoxins, which may cause the harmful effects in human and liver stocks. They cause many acute, subacute and chronic diseases such as hepatic carcinoma in human. Aflatoxins can pose a significant economic burden. It caused up to 25-30 % approximately destroy the crops all over. Aflatoxicosis detection from the humans as well as animals is very tough because variation may occur, or sign and symptoms may be change due to the suppressor of immune system that cause many chronic diseases. These aflatoxins are determined and analyzed by the many techniques such as chromatographic techniques mostly HPLC, immunoassays, fluorescence spectroscopy and many biosensors which are very essential to check the quality, quantity and concentration of aflatoxins present in food and feeds. So that, there are many methods to limit the growth of aflatoxins from the grain in pre-harvest, during harvest and post-harvest conditions or also control the environmental conditions and managed the proper storages of the grains that may diminish the aflatoxins levels. Furthermore, they are many techniques and biological control methods are used to control the growth and activities of fungus species that cause the toxicity in food and feeds and protect the grains for the uses of human and animals.

Carcinogenic Properties of Aflatoxins in Maize Production and Recent Technologies Involved

Aflatoxins are the carcinogenic, mutagenic and highly toxic secondary metabolite, which is produced by two species of fungus such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus mostly. These two types of fungus contaminate the cereals crops such as maize, cotton, rice and spices. These are naturally occurring toxins all over the world. There are 20 different types of aflatoxins but out of six have significance importance for instance, AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, AFM1 and AFM2. Most commonly, AFB1 and AFB2 are present in the maize crops and M1 and M2 present in the milk and dairy products. Even the small amounts of aflatoxins, which may cause the harmful effects in human and liver stocks. They cause many acute, subacute and chronic diseases such as hepatic carcinoma in human. Aflatoxins can pose a significant economic burden. It caused up to 25-30 % approximately destroy the crops all over. Aflatoxicosis detection from the humans as well as animals is very tough because variation may occur, or sign and symptoms may be change due to the suppressor of immune system that cause many chronic diseases. These aflatoxins are determined and analyzed by the many techniques such as chromatographic techniques mostly HPLC, immunoassays, fluorescence spectroscopy and many biosensors which are very essential to check the quality, quantity and concentration of aflatoxins present in food and feeds. So that, there are many methods to limit the growth of aflatoxins from the grain in pre-harvest, during harvest and post-harvest conditions or also control the environmental conditions and managed the proper storages of the grains that may diminish the aflatoxins levels. Furthermore, they are many techniques and biological control methods are used to control the growth and activities of fungus species that cause the toxicity in food and feeds and protect the grains for the uses of human and animals.

A novel colorimetric biosensor for sensitive detection of aflatoxin mediated by bacterial enzymatic reaction in saffron samples

Aflatoxin is regarded as the potent carcinogenic agent which is secreted from fungi and present in some food products. So far, many detection methods have been developed to determine the trace amounts of aflatoxin in foods. In the present study a colorimetric competitive assay for detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) has been developed based on interaction of gelatin functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs@gelatin) in specific enzymatic reaction. Bacterial supernatant containing gelatinase enzyme were used as the substrate that could digest the coated gelatin on the surface of AuNPs and following in the presence of NaCl medium ingredient resulted to color change of AuNPs colloidal solution from red to purple. It was observed that with addition of aflatoxin to the bacterial supernatant, aflatoxin could interfere in aggregation of AuNPs and inhibited the process which subsequently prevent the expected color change induced by AuNPs aggregation. The supernatant containing AuNPs were investigated to analyze their induced surface plasmon resonance spectra through UV–visible spectroscopy. The absorption values were directly proportional with the applied AFB1 concentration. The experiment conditions including incubation time, AuNPs concentration and pH were investigated. The obtained results showed that through this approach we could detect the AFB1 in a linear range from 10 to 140 pg ml−1, with detection limit of 4 pg ml−1. Real sample assay in saffron samples showed recoveries percentage of 92.4%–95.3%. The applied approach proposed simple, cost effective and specific method for detection of AFB1 toxin in food samples.