Research Publications (Food Safety)

The measurement of human exposure to mycotoxins is necessary for its association with adverse health effects. This exposure is usually estimated from contamination levels of foodstuffs, which are the primary source of toxin exposure, and data on food consumption patterns. However, variations in contamination level, intestinal absorption, toxin distribution, and excretion lead to individual variations in toxin exposure that can be more readily measured with a biomarker.

Contamination of food chains by toxigenic fungi and aflatoxins is a global problem that causes damage to human health, as well as to crop and livestock production. The objective is to evaluate Aspergillus flavus and total aflatoxins (AFs) occurrence in totally mixed rations (TMRs) for dairy cows and aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in milk for human consumption.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of the most common feed contaminants, and it poses a serious threat to the health of dairy cows. The existing studies of biological toxicity of DON mainly focus on the proliferation, oxidative stress, and inflammation in bovine mammary epithelial cells, while its toxicity on the biosynthesis of milk components has not been well documented.

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a salient metabolite that can be used to assess Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) exposure in humans and animals. The carcinogenic potency of AFB1 and AFM1 was severely reported.

Amanitin poisoning still has no particular, effective antidote. Erdosteine has been shown to protect numerous tissues, particularly those in the liver. This study investigates the potential therapeutic effects of erdosteine on alpha-, beta- and gamma-amanitin-induced hepatotoxicity in in vitro models.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Zearalenone (ZEN) is one of the most common mycotoxin contaminants worldwide. In this study, a phage-based direct competitive fluorescence immunosorbent assay (P-dcFLISA) was developed for the detection of ZEN. In this P-dcFLISA, phage mimotope was used to replace chemically synthesized antigens to improve the safety of experiments.

It is urgent to solve the contamination of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in food and water. In this study, the mesoporous silica was prepared from rice husk, which was then magnetized using the precipitation technique, followed by amino-modification with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, forming amino-grafted magnetic mesoporous silica (NMMS).

A novel magnetic dispersive SPE (MDSPE) based on magnetic covalent organic framework (M-COF) coupled with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed for the determination of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 in food matrices (milk, edible oil and rice). The M-COF was designed and constructed by using two novel monomers of 1,2,4,5-Tetrakis-(4-formylphenyl)benzene (TFPB) and p-Phenylenediamine (PPD) at room temperature.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin found in a variety of foods and herbal medicines, and several governmental bodies around the world have set maximum allowable levels of OTA in different foods and herbal medicines.

This study aimed to evaluate factors that modulate phosphorus (P) use, such as calcium (Ca) intake that is well known and deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination which has been the subject of few studies until now.

A total of 4,318 pigs (337×1050, PIC; initially 6.5±0.08kg) were used in a 35-d trial to evaluate dietary mycotoxin control strategies on nursery pig performance and blood measures. Pigs were weaned at 21-d of age and randomly allotted to 1 of 5 dietary treatments. A total of 160 pens were used with 80 double-sided 5-hole stainless steel fence line feeders, with feeder serving as the experimental unit. For each feeder, 1 pen contained 27 gilts and 1 pen contained 27 barrows.

The current experiment was conducted to determine if the dosage or timing of exposure to diets containing high deoxynivalenol (DON), a mycotoxin in a variety of feed ingredients, causes performance loss in nursery pigs. In total, 448 mixed-sex nursery pigs [initial BW = 6.18 ± 0.97 kg] weaned at 21 ± 1 d were allotted to 112 pens, with 4 pigs per pen, in a randomized complete block design.

Heat stress (HS) and Zearalenone (Zen) exposure negatively impact growth, production efficiency, animal welfare, and both can be lethal. Zearalenone, a mycotoxin, can contaminate a variety of feedstuffs. As both HS and Zen independently can cause oxidative stress, we hypothesized that concomitant exposure to HS and Zen would cause oxidative stress in pig skeletal muscle more than either agent alone.

Mycotoxins are harmful secondary fungal metabolites detrimental to animal health even at low levels. The study was conducted to compare mycotoxin contamination of initial samples of the 2021 corn crop with previous year trends.

Humans are chronically exposed to the mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisin B1 (FB1), as indicated by their widespread presence in foods and occasional exposure in the workplace. This exposure is confirmed by human biomonitoring (HBM) studies on (metabolites of) these mycotoxins in human matrices. We evaluated the exposure–health relationship of the mycotoxins in humans by reviewing the available literature.

Deoxynivalenol (DON), a mycotoxin that contaminates crops such as wheat and corn, can cause severe acute or chronic injury when ingested by animals or humans. This study investigated the protective effect of ferulic acid (FA), a polyphenolic substance, on alleviating the toxicity induced by DON (40 μM) in IPEC-J2 cells.

Milk is a highly nutritious and perfect natural food for humans. However, when lactating animals feed on Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-containing feed, the hydroxyl metabolite aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) contaminates the milk and dairy products. The objective of the current study was to assess the level of AFM1 in raw milk, normally pasteurized milk and Ethiopian cottage cheese collected from value chain actors (producers, collectors, processors and retailers).

3-Acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-Ac-DON), an acetylated derivative of deoxynivalenol (DON), has contaminated grains and grain-based products in general and been harmful to human and animal health. However, the damage effects and regulatory mechanisms to the host immune system have not been well explored.

A highly selective and sensitive aptasensor for detecting patulin (PAT) was constructed based on the fluorescence quenching of fullerenol quantum dots (FOQDs) towards carboxytetramethylrhodamine (TAMRA) through PET mechanism. The π-π stacking interaction between PAT aptamer and FOQDs closed the distance between TAMRA and FOQDs and the fluorescence of TAMRA was quenched with maximum quenching efficiency reaching 85%.

Patulin (PAT) is a common mycotoxin. Oral ingestion of PAT could damage the intestinal mucosa. Both selenium and probiotics can alleviate intestinal damage, but there are few reports on selenium-enriched probiotics. Here, we studied the protective effects of a new selenium-enriched Pediococcus acidilactici MRS-7 (SeP) on PAT-induced jejunum injuries in mice.

The major safety risk of peanuts is contamination with aflatoxin. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has been demonstrated to inactivate fungi effectively. In this study, a novel CAP device with a rotary jet system was used to inactivate the existing A. flavus and A. niger on peanuts.

Background Deoxynivalenol (DON) is an important Fusarium mycotoxin commonly detected in foods and feeds, which has drawn global attention because of its high contamination level and frequency.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a mycotoxin contaminating food and feed, can trigger liver immune toxicity and threaten the poultry industry. Phillygenin (PHI) is a natural lignan derived primarily from Forsythia suspensa with hepatoprotective pharmacological and medicinal properties.

A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) multi-mycotoxin method was developed for the analysis of the Alternaria toxins alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tentoxin (TEN), altertoxin I (ATX I), altertoxin II (ATX II), alterperylenol (ALTP), and altenuene (ALT), as well as the modified toxins AOH-3-glucoside (AOH-3-G), AOH-9-glucoside (AOH-9-G), AME-3-glucoside (AME-3-G), AOH-3-sulfate (AOH-3-S), and AME-3-sulfate (AME-3-S) in barley and

Fumonisins (FBs) are toxic mycotoxins that commonly exist in food and feed. FBs can induce many aspects of toxicity, leading to adverse effects on human and animal health; therefore, investigating methods to reduce fumonisin contamination is necessary. In our study, we generated a recombinant fusion enzyme called FUMDI by linking the carboxylesterase gene (fumD) and the aminotransferase gene (fumI) by overlapping polymerase chain reaction (PCR).