Research Publications (Food Safety)

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by certain strains of fungi that can contaminate raw feed materials. Once ingested, even in small doses, they cause multiple health issues for animals and, downstream, for people consuming meat. It was proposed that inclusion of antioxidant-rich plant-derived feed might diminish the harmful effects of mycotoxins, maintaining the farm animals’ health and meat quality for human consumption.

Mycotoxins can be transferred to breast milk during lactation. Hence, the presence of multiple mycotoxins (aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, and M1, alpha and beta zearalanol, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins B1, B2, B3, and hydrolyzed B1, nivalenol, ochratoxin A, ochratoxin alpha, and zearalenone) in breast milk samples was assessed in our study. Furthermore, the relationship between total fumonisins and pre/post-harvest and the women’s dietary practices was examined.

The major safety risk of maize grain is contamination with mycotoxins. In this study, a maize-coating formulation containing freeze-dried culture filtrate of Streptomyces philanthi RL-1-178 (DCF RL-1-178) was developed and evaluated to prevent the growth of mycotoxins during maize grain storage. In vitro studies using confrontation tests on PDA plates indicated that S.

This work established a novel nucleic acid aptamer sensor for the sensitive and selective detection of AFB1 (Aflatoxin B1), which has important implication for food safety. In a word, we synthesized MXene/MWCNTs/NiCo2O4 composite nanomaterials to improve the sensitivity of the aptamer sensor. The surface of the composite nanomaterials was modified with PDA (poly dopamine) in order to immobilize the NH2-cDNA-aptamer complex on the electrode surface by the Schiff base reaction.

International Journal of Dairy Technology, EarlyView. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a carcinogenic mycotoxin mostly found in dairy products.

Recently, aflatoxin exposure especially through maize and groundnuts has been associated with growth impairment in children. Infants and children are considered to be more susceptible to toxins because of their lower body weight, higher metabolic rate, and lower ability to detoxify. On the other hand, for women of reproductive age, aflatoxin exposure may not only affect their health but also that of their foetus in the case of pregnancy.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a mycotoxin widely present in animal feed and human food, posing a serious threat to animal and human health. This study was aim to illustrate the mechanism of the protective role of MT against AFB1-induced hepatotoxicity, as well as to explore the feasibility of enhancing the tolerance of poultry to AFB1 by upregulating the expression of hepatic MT.

Aflatoxins (AFs) represent one of the main mycotoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, with the most prevalent and lethal subtypes being AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2. AFs are responsible for causing significant public health issues and economic concerns that affect consumers and farmers globally. Chronic exposure to AFs has been linked to liver cancer, oxidative stress, and fetal growth abnormalities among other health-related risks.

Silage can be contaminated with mycotoxins and accidental fungi after aerobic exposure. The study assessed the effects of bunker silos (BS), round bales (RB), and silage bags (SB) on the nutritional characteristics, fermentation quality, aerobic stability, mycotoxin levels and microbial communities of whole-plant corn silage (WPCS). After 90 days of fermentation, silages were opened and sampled at 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 days of exposure.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a commonly occurring toxicant in animal and human diets, leading to hazardous effects on health. AFB1 is known to be a hepato-toxicant, and the intestinal barrier may play a crucial role in reversing AFB1-induced liver injury.

The aim of this study was to determine the microbial diversity and mycotoxin profile of artisanal infant flours commonly vended in public healthcare centres and retail markets in Côte d’Ivoire. Thus, maize, millet, sorghum, soya and multigrain (mix of different cereals) flour samples collected from different localities were first, analysed for nutritional composition, then for microbial communities using high-throughput sequencing and for mycotoxins through UHPLC-MS/MS method.

Detoxification approaches are evolving from physical to biological to eliminate the toxins altogether. The current study was conducted to compare the impact of 2 newly developed toxin deactivators, Magnotox-alphaA (MTA) and Magnotox-alphaB (MTB) with a commercially available toxin binder, Mycofix PlusMTV INSIDE (MF) in alleviating the pernicious effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in laying hens.

Aflatoxin, is a naturally occurring polyketide generated by Aspergillus flavus via biosynthetic pathways, including polyketide synthase (PKS) and non-ribosomal enzymes. The in vitro analysis supported by molecular dynamics (MD) techniques was used to examine the antifungal and anti-aflatoxigenic activity of spent coffee grounds (SCGs) methanol extract. The High-Performance Liquid Chromatography results revealed the presence of 15 phenolic acids and five flavonoids.

The contamination of fermented feeds and foods with fungi and mycotoxins is a major food safety issue worldwide. Certain lactic acid bacteria (LAB), generally recognized as safe (GRAS) fermentation probiotics, are able to reduce microbial and mycotoxins contamination. In this study, Lactiplantibacillus (L.) plantarum Q1-2 and L.

Removal of aflatoxin is an urgent issue in agricultural products. A porous graphitic carbon nitride/graphene oxide hydrogel microsphere (CN/GO/SA) was synthesized and used to degrade AFB1 in peanut oil. CN/GO/SA was characterized by scanning electron micrograph (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FT-IR. The introduction of GO significantly improved the adsorption capacity and visible light activity of photocatalysts.

Vegetable oils are usually cocontaminated with different mycotoxins, including aflatoxins and zearalenone, which cause significant food safety issues. Establishment of multitarget, high-efficiency, and low-cost adsorption methods are considered to be ideal solutions for mycotoxin removal in vegetable oils. In this study, we used metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were used for the simultaneous removal of aflatoxins and zearalenone from vegetable oils.

Journal of Applied Toxicology, Accepted Article. We recently developed a rat whole exome sequencing (WES) panel and used it to evaluate early somatic mutations in archival liver tissues from F344/N rats exposed to the hepatocarcinogen, Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a widely studied, potent mutagen and hepatocarcinogen associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Rats were exposed to 1 ppm AFB1 in feed for 14, 90 and 90 days plus a recovery 60-day, non-exposure period (150-day) time point.

Mycotoxins, especially aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), should be measured and monitored to ensure the safe consumption of dairy products. This study aims to determine the amount and evaluate the health risk of AFM1 in milk for different age groups in the last two decades in Iran through a systematic review. A systematic search was conducted to extract the required data from June 27, 2000, to October 10, 2022, and 72 papers were eventually chosen for this study based on the study selection criteria.

Peanuts are susceptible to aflatoxins produced by Aspergillus flavus. Exploring green, efficient, and economical ways to inhibit Aspergillus flavus is conducive to controlling aflatoxin contamination from the source. In this study, Ag-loaded titanium dioxide composites showed more than 90% inhibition rate against Aspergillus flavus under visible light irradiation for 15 min.

Toxigenic members of Aspergillus flavus contaminate cereal grains, resulting in contamination by aflatoxin, a food safety hazard that causes hepatocellular carcinoma. This study identified probiotic strains as aflatoxin detoxifiers and investigated the changes to the grain amino acid concentrations during fermentation with probiotics in the presence of either A. flavus La 3228 (an aflatoxigenic strain) or A. flavus La 3279 (an atoxigenic strain).

Aflatoxin contamination of maize is a major food safety issue worldwide. The problem is of special significance in African countries because maize is a staple food. This manuscript describes a low-cost, portable, non-invasive device for detecting and sorting aflatoxin-contaminated maize kernels. We developed a prototype employing a modified, normalized difference fluorescence index (NDFI) detection method to identify potentially aflatoxin-contaminated maize kernels.

The conversion of aflatoxin B1 in feed consumed by cows into aflatoxin M1 in their milk poses a challenge to food safety, with milk being a popular staple food and because of the harmful effects of these compounds. This study aimed at reviewing scientific information about the extent of carry-over of AFB1 from feed to milk. A range of studies reported about correlations of carry-over with different factors, particularly with milk yield and AFB1 intake.

In Europe the legal limit for aflatoxin M1 in raw milk, heat-treated milk and milk for the manufacture of milk-based products is set to 50 ng kg−1. In Italy, an ‘attention limit’ of 40 ng kg−1 has been defined in 2013 for aflatoxin M1, while a more stringent attention limit of 30 ng kg−1 was set voluntarily by different regions in the following years.

Peanut is susceptible to Aspergillus flavus infection, and the consequent aflatoxin contamination has been recognized as an important risk factor affecting food safety and industry development.

The aim of this work was to estimate the effects of three recombinant peroxidases (rPODs) on the degradation of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in a model solution and were applied in milk and beer to study the AFM1 degradation. Besides, the contents of AFM1 in model solution, milk and beer were evaluated, and the kinetic parameters of rPODs were determined (Michaelis-Menten constant - Km and maximal velocity - Vmax).