Aflatoxin Contamination in Agricultural Commodities

Rajarajan, P. N.; Rajasekaran, K.; Devi, Naorem Kiranmala

doi:10.30750/ijpbr.1.4.25

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The aflatoxigenic isolates produced AFB1 in the range of 6 to 40 µg/g media, which was higher than the permissible limit of 0.03 µg/kg in all food commodities in India . This emphasizes the high toxin producing potential of the fungal isolates collected from the stored wheat grains.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Investigation of diversity and dominance of fungal biota in stored wheat grains from governmental warehouses in West Bengal, India

2019

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BACKGROUND Fungal infestation is a leading cause of qualitative and quantitative deterioration of stored wheat grains. Limited information is available on the spatial distribution of fungal biota associated with stored wheat grains in India. Fungi were isolated and characterized from nine stored wheat grain samples in three warehouses of the Food Corporation of India, located in three agro‐climatic zones (Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia) of West Bengal in India. RESULTS Maximum density and fungal diversity were observed in dichloran glycerol agar (DG‐18) medium and the number increased with the increase of storage duration. Samples collected from Purulia showed maximum fungal diversity than that from Bankura and Paschim Medinipur. A total of 284 fungal isolates were obtained, classified into 29 operational taxonomic units (based on amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis of 18S and internal transcribed spacer sequences), and identified as 24 different fungal species. The majority of fungal isolates belonged to Aspergillus flavus (35%) followed by Rhizopus oryzae (13%) and Eurotium amstelodami (9%). Aspergillopepsin O (PEPO) gene and aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway gene, nor‐1, were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from 91% and 71% of Aspergillus flavus isolates, respectively, indicating their aflatoxin producing ability. Aflatoxin production was further confirmed by ammonia vapour test, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). CONCLUSION The presence of toxigenic fungi in stored wheat grain emphasizes the necessity of quarantine measures of stored grains before placing them in the public domain to save consumers from health hazards. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Investigation of diversity and dominance of fungal biota in stored wheat grains from governmental warehouses in West Bengal, India

2019

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“…Nevertheless, A. flavus is the main source of aflatoxins contamination in the world's food supplies (Pitt and Hocking, 2009). Studies by Rostami et al (2009), Reddy et al (2010), Rajarajan et al (2013) and Guchi (2015) reported that aflatoxigenic A. flavus was the most predominant species contaminated groundnuts. Other than groundnuts, A. flavus is also prevalent on wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize and rice (Reddy et al, 2010).…”

Section: Molecular Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aspergillus species from groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea) and mycotoxin production by toxigenic species

Kamaruddin¹,

Zakaria²

2019

MJM

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Aims: Groundnut is an important food crop and is susceptible to contamination by Aspergillus. The present study was conducted to identify Aspergillus spp. from groundnuts as well as to detect mycotoxin production by toxigenic species. Methodology and results: Molecular identification using ITS region, β-tubulin and calmodulin genes identified six species, A. niger, A. tubingensis, A. flavus, A. aculeatus, A. sydowii and A. fumigatus. Phylogenetic tree of combined sequences showed the isolates from the same species were grouped with reference strains in the same clade, thus the species identity was confirmed. Detection of mycotoxin biosynthesis genes can give an indication of mycotoxin production. Two ochratoxin A genes, PKS15KS and PKS15C-MeT were detected in seven A. niger isolates but none of the isolates produced ochratoxin A when quantification was conducted using Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Two aflatoxin B1 biosynthesis genes, Nor-1 (norsolorinic acid) and Ver-1 (Versicolorin) genes were detected in A. flavus but only KDH7 and KL27b isolates produced aflatoxin B1 with concentrations of 1.0 μg/g and 1.1 μg/g, respectively. Conclusion, significance and impact of the study: Various species of Aspergillus found on groundnuts may lead to potential mycotoxin contamination as toxigenic species were also recovered. The occurrence of Aspergillus spp. can reduce the quality of the legumes as well as reducing their shelf life.

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“…Among 18 different types of aflatoxins identified, the most commonly occurring ones were aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 in fungi cultures; then aflatoxins M1 and M2 in milk (Wu et al, ). These aflatoxins were found to possess toxic properties including mutagenicity, tetrogenicity, acute cellular toxicity and it also suppresses the immune system (Rajarajan, Rajasekaran, & Asha Devi, ). In view with its toxic nature, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set the limiting value for its presence at 20 µg/kg for all foods and 300 µg/kg in feed (USFDA, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of combination processing on aflatoxin reduction: process optimization by response surface methodology

Subramanian

Nadanasabapathi

Kumar

et al. 2017

J Food Process Preserv

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The food processing techniques have been established to provide nutritionally rich and safe products by reducing the toxin content both from the plant and microbial origin. In this study, the thermal processing method has been optimized, individually and in combination with pulsed electric field (PEF) by using response surface methodology, for its ability to reduce artificially spiked aflatoxin in potato dextrose agar. The thermal process was optimized, with factors pH (4–10), temperature (110–119 °C) and time (10–20 min) of treatment for the reduction percentage of aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxin, wherein it followed a quadratic type model for both responses. But the effect of PEF treatment on reduction of aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxin fitted in 2FI and quadratic models respectively. The combination (PEF + thermal) processing was performed using the optimized parameters; which resulted in a marginal increase in percentage of reduction when compared to the treatments performed individually. Practical applications Aflatoxin is a potential threat to human health. The toxin known for its thermal stability has created a need for newer processing technologies to reduce content without compromising the quality and safety of the product. The application of Pulsed Electric Field, a non‐thermal process, in combination with thermal processing has been studied in this paper, for its successful application for the reduction in toxin in food products such as fruit juices, milk, peanut butter, and so forth.

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Aflatoxin Contamination in Agricultural Commodities

Cited by 21 publications

References 13 publications

Investigation of diversity and dominance of fungal biota in stored wheat grains from governmental warehouses in West Bengal, India

Investigation of diversity and dominance of fungal biota in stored wheat grains from governmental warehouses in West Bengal, India

Aspergillus species from groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea) and mycotoxin production by toxigenic species

Effect of combination processing on aflatoxin reduction: process optimization by response surface methodology

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