Research Publications (Food Safety)

Author(s): Magdalena Gajęcka, Michał Dąbrowski, Iwona Otrocka-Domagała, Paweł Brzuzan, Anna Rykaczewska, Katarzyna Cieplińska, Marzena Barasińska, Maciej T. Gajęcki, Łukasz Zielonka

A biochip chemiluminescent immunoassay was validated for multi-mycotoxins screening in maize. Screened mycotoxins were aflatoxins B1 (AFB1) and G1 (AFG1) ochratoxin A (OTA), zearalenone (ZEA), toxin T2 (T2), fumonisins (sum of FB1 and FB2) and deoxynivalenol (DON). The method included a single extraction step with acetonitrile:methanol:water (50:40:10, v/v/v).

Deoxynivalenol, T-2 toxin, and zearalenone, major Fusarium mycotoxins, contaminate human food on a global level. Exposure to these mycotoxins during pregnancy can lead to abnormalities in neonatal development. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Fusarium mycotoxins on human placental epithelial cells. As an in vitro model of placental barrier, BeWo cells were exposed to different concentrations of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone or T-2 toxin.

Author(s): Carla Cervini, Carol Verkeecke-Vaessen, Massimo Ferrara, Esther García-Cela, Donato Magistà, Angel Medina, Antonia Gallo, Naresh Magan, Giancarlo Perrone

Fusarium mycotoxins and their derivatives are frequently detected in freshly harvested forage maize. This study assessed the time course effects during ensiling of forage maize on the fate of Fusarium mycotoxins, using laboratory-scale silos and artificially contaminated raw material.

Moulds positively contribute to the development of typical characteristic flavour and aroma of dry-fermented sausages. However, some mould species, such as Penicillium nordicum and Penicillium verrucosum, may contaminate this product with ochratoxin A (OTA). For this reason, the control of toxigenic moulds is needed.

Contamination of animal feed with multiple mycotoxins is an ongoing and growing issue, as over 60% of cereal crops worldwide have been shown to be contaminated with mycotoxins. The present study was carried out to assess the efficacy of commercial feed additives sold with multi-mycotoxin binding claims. Ten feed additives were obtained and categorised into three groups based on their main composition.

An intercollaborative study was organized to evaluate the performance characteristics of a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry procedure for the simultaneous determination of 12 mycotoxins in food, which were ochratoxin A, aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, and M1, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, fumonisins B1 and B2, and T-2 and HT-2 toxins.

Author(s): Ozgur Golge, Bulent Kabak

Author(s): Carla Cervini, Antonia Gallo, Luca Piemontese, Donato Magistà, Antonio F. Logrieco, Massimo Ferrara, Michele Solfrizzo, Giancarlo Perrone

The present study was envisaged with an aim to determine the occurrence of antibiotic residues; enrofloxacin, oxytetracycline, penicillin G, sulphamethoxazole and chloramphenicol as well as mycotoxins; aflatoxin M1 and ochratoxin A in raw milk samples collected from individual animals from dairy farms located in 9 districts of Punjab, India. A total of 168 raw milk samples were collected and analysed using commercially available competitive Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kits.

Author(s): Haftom Kebede, Xiumin Liu, Jing Jin, Fuguo Xing

Author(s): Shuwen Wang, Rui Niu, Yamei Yang, Yun Wang

The health burden of foodborne mycotoxins is considerable, but particularly for children due to their lower detoxification capacity, rapid growth and high intake of food in proportion to their weight. Through a Total Dietary Study approach, the objective was to estimate the dietary exposure and health risk caused by mycotoxins for children under 5 years living in the Lao Cai province in northern Vietnam.

Author(s): Prerna Agarwal, Darshana Singh, S. Raisuddin, Raj Kumar

Author(s): Xianli Yang, Zhiyong Zhao, Yanglan Tan, Bo Chen, Changyan Zhou, Aibo Wu

Mycotoxins are produced by fungi and are potentially toxic to pigs. Yeast cell wall extract (YCWE) is known to adsorb mycotoxins and improve gut health in pigs. One hundred and twenty growing (56 kg; experiment 1) and 48 nursery piglets (6 kg; experiment 2) were assigned to four dietary treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial design for 35 and 48 days, respectively.

Aspergillus welwitschiae is a species of the Nigri section of the genus Aspergillus. In nature, it is usually a saprotroph, decomposing plant material. However, it causes the bole rot disease of Agave sisalana (sisal), a plant species used for the extraction of hard natural fibers, causing great economic loss to this culture. In this study, we isolated and sequenced one genome of A.

Author(s): Birgitta Maria Kunz, Felicitas Wanko, Sabine Kemmlein, Arnold Bahlmann, Sascha Rohn, Ronald Maul

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a carcinogenic mycotoxin, which is produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium genera of fungi and commonly contaminates food and feed. We and others have previously shown that OTA causes sustained activation of PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK1-2 signaling pathways in different cell types and animal models.

Author(s): Bruna Dachery, Karolina Cardoso Hernandes, Flávio Fonseca Veras, Luana Schmidt, Paula Rossini Augusti, Vitor Manfroi, Claudia Alcaraz Zini, Juliane Elisa Welke

Author(s): Monika Coton, Thibaud Bregier, Elisabeth Poirier, Stella Debaets, Nathalie Arnich, Emmanuel Coton, Philippe Dantigny

Author(s): Annamaria Mincuzzi, Antonio Ippolito, Cinzia Montemurro, Simona Marianna Sanzani

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and zearalenone (ZEN) exert deleterious effects to human and animal health. In this study, the ability of a CotA laccase from Bacillus subtilis (BsCotA) to degrade these two mycotoxins was first investigated. Among the nine structurally defined chemical compounds, methyl syringate was the most efficient mediator assisting BsCotA to degrade AFB1 (98.0%) and ZEN (100.0%).

Degradation of the mycotoxin patulin (PAT) and the generation of (less toxic) breakdown products, such as (E/Z)-ascladiol (ASC-E/Z) and desoxypatulinic acid (D-PAT), can occur due to chemical, physical and biological treatments.