Research Publications (Food Safety)

The study of fungal species evolved radically with the development of molecular techniques and produced new evidence to understand specific fungal mechanisms such as the production of toxic secondary metabolites. Taking advantage of these technologies to improve food safety, the molecular study of toxinogenic species can help elucidate the mechanisms underlying toxin production and enable the development of new effective strategies to control fungal toxicity.

This manuscript reviews the state-of-the-art regarding human biological monitoring (HBM) of mycotoxins in plasma serum and blood samples. After a comprehensive and systematic literature review, with a focus on the last five years, several aspects were analyzed and summarized: a) the biomarkers analyzed and their encountered levels, b) the analytical methodologies developed and c) the relationship between biomarker levels and some illnesses.

Aflatoxin contamination of foodstuffs poses a serious risk to food security, and it is essential to search for new control methods to prevent these toxins entering the food chain. Several essential oils are able to reduce the growth and mycotoxin biosynthesis of toxigenic species, although their efficiency is strongly influenced by the environmental conditions.

Type-B aflatoxins (AFB1 and AFB2) frequently contaminate food, especially nuts and fried figs, and seriously threaten human health; hence, it is necessary for the newly rapid and sensitive detection methods to prevent the consumption of potentially contaminated food. Here, a lateral flow aptasensor for the detection of type-B aflatoxins was developed.

Groundnut is an important global food and oil crop that underpins agriculture-dependent livelihood strategies meeting food, nutrition, and income security. Aflatoxins, pose a major challenge to increased competitiveness of groundnut limiting access to lucrative markets and affecting populations that consume it. Other drivers of low competitiveness include allergens and limited shelf life occasioned by low oleic acid profile in the oil.

Author(s): Paula Sol Pok, Víctor Alonso García Londoño, Sebastián Vicente, Stella Maris Romero, Ana Pacín, Marcela Tolaba, Stella Maris Alzamora, Silvia Liliana Resnik

Author(s): M.S.S. Ribeiro, O. Freitas-Silva, I.M. Castro, A. Teixeira, S.H. Marques-da-Silva, A.C.S. Moraes, L.F. Abreu, C.L. Sousa

Species of the highly diverse fungal genus Aspergillus are well-known agricultural pests, and, most importantly, producers of various mycotoxins threatening food safety worldwide. Mycotoxins are studied predominantly from the perspectives of human and livestock health. Meanwhile, their roles are far less known in nature.

Mycotoxins are an important class of pollutants that are toxic and hazardous to animal and human health. Consequently, various methods have been explored to abate their effects, among which adsorbent has found prominent application. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) has recently been applied for the concurrent evaluation of multiple mycotoxins.

Author(s): Parvaneh Afshar, Mohammad Shokrzadeh, Shahram Naghizadeh Raeisi, Azade Ghorbani-HasanSaraei, Leila Roozbeh Nasiraii

Author(s): Abebe Ayelign, Sarah De Saeger

Author(s): Hui Xie, Zhimin Li, Zhimin Wang, Guotao Mao, Hongsen Zhang, Fengqin Wang, Hongge Chen, Sen Yang, Yiu Fai Tsang, Su Shiung Lam, Andong Song, Zhanying Zhang

Author(s): Danieli Cristina Schabo, Ligia Manoel Martins, Janeeyre Ferreira Maciel, Beatriz Thie Iamanaka, Marta Hiromi Taniwaki, Donald William Schaffner, Marciane Magnani

Author(s): Wei Liu, Pengguang Zhao, Chaosheng Wu, Changhong Liu, Jianbo Yang, Lei Zheng

Durian peel (DP) is an agricultural waste that is widely used in dyes and for organic and inorganic pollutant adsorption. In this study, durian peel was acid-treated to enhance its mycotoxin adsorption efficacy. The acid-treated durian peel (ATDP) was assessed for simultaneous adsorption of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA), zearalenone (ZEA), deoxynivalenol (DON), and fumonisin B1 (FB1).

BACKGROUND Cereal seeds, such as maize seeds, are frequently contaminated with Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), one of the most dangerous naturally occurring carcinogens. In plants, phenolamides are involved in biotic stress response. The data on variations of phenolamides in AFB1 containing seeds are limited. RESULTS Five polyamine conjugates, including two spermidine and three putrescine conjugates, were tentatively identified in methanolic extracts, using HPLC‐DAD‐MS.

Author(s): Fatemeh Ahmadian, Arash Chaichi Nosrati, Ali Shahriyari, Faezi-Ghasemi Mohammad, Soheil Shokri-Fashtali

Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus are saprophytic fungi which can infect and contaminate preharvest and postharvest food/feed with production of aflatoxins (B1, B2, and G). They are also an opportunistic pathogen causing aspergillosis diseases of animals and humans.

The occurrence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in infant formulae commercialized in the metropolitan area of Monterrey (Nuevo León, Mexico) was determined by using immunoaffinity column clean-up followed by HPLC determination with fluorimetric detection. For this, 55 infant formula powders were classified in two groups, starter (49 samples) and follow-on (6 samples) formulae.

In this review, we present the current information on development and applications of biological control against phytopathogenic organisms as well as mycotoxigenic fungi in Malaysia as part of the integrated pest management (IPM) programs in a collective effort to achieve food security.

Aflatoxins are carcinogenic and toxic compounds produced principally by fungal species Aspergillus flavus (Link: Fries) and A. parasiticus (Speare), which are common contaminants of food and feed. Aflatoxins can be found at dangerously high levels and can readily contaminate pre-harvest maize (Zea mays L.) grain.

Author(s): Janet Adebiyi, Eugenie Kayitesi, Patrick Njobeh

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) has potential as an adjunct in brewing given its agronomic, chemical and technological properties. The aim of this work were to identify the cultivable microflora and evaluate the technological quality of the durum wheat variety ‘Senatore Cappelli’ grown and used by a craft brewery in Sardinia, Italy.

Beer is an alcoholic beverage made from a cereal grain extract and is widely consumed in sub‐Saharan Africa and the world at large. However, beer consumption could expose consumers to mycotoxins. In this review, we appraised the different mycotoxins associated with beer contamination, elucidating their structures and incidence in cereals involved in beer production. The common mycotoxins that are found within the brewing process are reviewed.