Research Publications (Food Safety)

Ruminants are less susceptible to the effects of mycotoxins than monogastric animals as their rumen microbiota are claimed to degrade and/or deactivate at least some of these toxic compounds. However, the mycotoxin degradation is not well-known yet. For this, a sensitive, specific, and accurate analytical method is needed to determine mycotoxins in the rumen fluid.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a well-known, natural contaminant in foods and feeds because of its toxic effects, such as nephrotoxicity in various animals. Recent studies have revealed that Alcaligenes faecalis could generate enzymes to efficiently degrade OTA to ochratoxin α (OTα) in vitro. In an effort to obtain the OTA degrading mechanism, we purified and identified a novel degrading enzyme, N-acyl-L-amino acid amidohydrolase (AfOTase), from A.

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a nonsteroidal estrogenic mycotoxin produced by various Fusarium species and commonly occurring in corn and other cereals. Even though its acute toxicity is low, still the estrogenic activity of ZEN and metabolites is a matter of concern. In this work, a new magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (mMIP) for the selective extraction of ZEN from cereal flours is presented.

Insects are considered a suitable alternative feed for livestock production and their use is nowadays regulated in the European Union by the European Commission Regulation No. 893/2017. Insects have the ability to grow on a different spectrum of substrates, which could be naturally contaminated by mycotoxins.

Zearalenone (ZEN)-degrading enzymes are a promising strategy to counteract the negative effects of this mycotoxin in livestock. The reaction products of such enzymes need to be thoroughly characterized before technological application as a feed additive can be envisaged. Here, we evaluated the estrogenic activity of the metabolites hydrolyzed zearalenone (HZEN) and decarboxylated hydrolyzed zearalenone (DHZEN) formed by hydrolysis of ZEN by the zearalenone-lactonase Zhd101p.

Ochratoxin A is best known as a potent renal carcinogen in male rats and mice after necessarily protracted ingestion, although valid extrapolation to any human disease has not been verified. The hypothesis that the toxin is a cause of human testicular cancer was proposed a decade ago and has proliferated since, partly through incomplete study of the scientific literature.

Citrinin (CIT) is a mycotoxin that has been detected in agricultural products, feedstuff, and Monascus products. At present, research has been performed to develop methods for CIT detection, mainly through TLC, HPLC, biosensor, and immunoassay. The immunoassay method is popular with researchers because of its speed, economy, simplicity, and ease of control. However, mycotoxins are inevitably introduced during the determination.

In order to remove zearalenone (ZEA) detriment—Bacillus subtilis, Candida utilis, and cell-free extracts from Aspergillus oryzae were used to degrade ZEA in this study. The orthogonal experiment in vitro showed that the ZEA degradation rate was 92.27% (p < 0.05) under the conditions that Candida utilis, Bacillus subtilis SP1, and Bacillus subtilis SP2 were mixed together at 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.0%.

Author(s): Shruti Shukla, Jung Hyun Park, Myunghee Kim

Aims To study the antimicrobial agents of the Bacillus velezensis strain HC6 and assess the application potential of Bacillus velezensis HC6 in maize. Methods and Results We applied a dual culture technique to test the antimicrobial activity of B. velezensis HC6 against bacteria and fungi of common contaminated crops. B. velezensis HC6 showed antagonistic action on pathogenic fungi, including Aspergillus and Fusarium, as well as pathogenic bacteria (especially Listeria monocytogenes).

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin which could cause strong immunosuppressive toxicological effects in animals and humans. Heterophil extracellular traps (HETs) as a novel defense of chicken heterophils play an important role against pathogen infection. It has been reported that OTA can weaken the phagocytosis function of neutrophils. However, whether or not OTA shows immunosuppressive effects on HET release remains unclear.

Enzymatic treatment is an attractive method for mycotoxin detoxification, which ideally prefers the use of one or a few enzymes. However, this is challenged by the diverse structures and co-contamination of multiple mycotoxins in food and feed. Lignin-degrading fungi have been discovered to detoxify organics including mycotoxins. Manganese peroxidase (MnP) is a major enzyme responsible for lignin oxidative depolymerization in such fungi.

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a mycotoxin that not only binds to estrogen receptors, but also interacts with steroidogenic enzymes and acts as an endocrine disruptor.

Author(s): Yan Zhao, Yun-Cong Yuan, Xiao-Lin Bai, Yi-Ming Liu, Gui-Fang Wu, Fa-Shu Yang, Xun Liao

Author(s): Xuan Yang, Yijia Li, Lirong Zheng, Xiaoyun He, Yunbo Luo, Kunlun Huang, Wentao Xu

Author(s): Luísa Freire, Marianna M. Furtado, Tatiane M. Guerreiro, Juliana S. da Graça, Beatriz S. da Silva, Diogo N. Oliveira, Rodrigo R. Catharino, Anderson S. Sant’Ana

Author(s): Yanju Xiao, Bingjie Liu, Zijuan Wang, Chenlu Han, Xianghong Meng, Fang Zhang

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to evaluate the protective effects of dietary modified palygorskite (Pal) supplementation on broiler chickens fed a purified zearalenone (ZEN)-contaminated diet. A total of 144 1-day-old male chicks were allocated to one of the 3 treatments, with each treatment being composed of 6 replicates of 8 birds each.

Author(s): Sana Meftah, Salwa Abid, Teresa Dias, Paula Rodrigues

Mycotoxins originate from fungal contamination of barley (and other cereals) and can be found at low levels in beer. Filtration is an effective way to remove mycotoxins. This work – at a laboratory scale – assesses the effectiveness of a commercial filter aid in the removal of mycotoxins in beer. Kieselguhr (Celite 577) and rice hull ash (Pattern II type), an emerging alternative filter aid to DE, were evaluated for the removal of ochratoxin A during beer filtration.

The main safety issue of cereal grains is mycotoxin contamination. There is no published information about mycotoxin contamination of organic wheat in the United States. This study quantified the contents of deoxynivalenol (DON) and ochratoxin A (OTA), two frequently occurring mycotoxins, in organic wheat samples collected from six counties in North Carolina by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Fungal contamination of food and animal feed, especially by mycotoxigenic fungi, is not only a global food quality concern for food manufacturers, but it also poses serious health concerns because of the production of a variety of mycotoxins, some of which present considerable food safety challenges.

BACKGROUND Maize is one of the most important cereals. It is used for different purposes and in different industries worldwide. This cereal is prone to contamination with mycotoxins, such as zearalenone (ZEN), which is produced mainly by Fusarium graminearum, F. culmorum and F. equiseti. Toxin production under highly moist conditions (aw > 0.95) is exacerbated if there are alternations between low temperatures (12–14 °C) and high temperatures (25–28 °C).

The Czech Republic occupies the first place in the world in the frequency of renal and other urinary tract tumours, but their aetiology is unknown. To explore whether carcinogenic and nephrotoxic mycotoxins may contribute to kidney diseases in the Czech population, biomarkers of ochratoxin A (OTA) and citrinin (CIT) exposure were determined in biological specimens from a cohort of 50 patients with malignant renal tumours.