Aflatoxin Formation Research Articles

Formation of Aflatoxin in Cheddar Cheese by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus

Three-month-old Cheddar cheeses were inoculated on one freshly cut surface with spore suspensions of Aspergillus flavus or Aspergillus parasiticus (toxigenic strains) and incubated at room temperature. Cheeses were sampled after 10 and 52 days of incubation and samples were examined by thin-layer chromatographic procedures for their content of aflatoxins B1 and G1. When A. flavus served as the test organism, the mold mycelium, top 0.64-cm layer of cheese, and second 0.64-cm layer of cheese contained 49,600, 2,900, and 4.8μg toxin B1 per kg, respectively, and 49,600, 14,400, and 9.6μg toxin G1 per kg. After 52 days of incubation the contents of B1 and G1 toxins in samples (same sequence as above) were 7,700, 1,960, and 120μg/kg. A. parasiticus, after 10 days of incubation, produced 9,780, 2,930, and <9.6μg toxin B1 and 48,900, 7,340, and 9.6μg toxin G1 per kg of sample in the sequence listed above. Forty-two days later, the content of B1 and G1 toxins, each, in a similar series of samples was 35,000, 15,600, and 312μg per kg. No aflatoxin was detected in cheese more than 1.3cm from the surface.

Formation of aflatoxins by Aspergillus ostianus Wehmer.

Formation of aflatoxins by Aspergillus ostianus Wehmer.

Formation of aflatoxins by Aspergillus ostianus Wehmer.

Formation of aflatoxins by Aspergillus ostianus Wehmer.

Aflatoxin formation by Aspergillus flavus.

Aflatoxin formation by Aspergillus flavus.

Aflatoxin formation by Aspergillus flavus.

Aflatoxin formation by Aspergillus flavus.