Biocontrol of toxigenic Aspergillus strains isolated from baby foods by essential oils

Abstract

Essential oils are natural antimicrobial agents that can be used to control fungal and mycotoxin contamination. Although there are numerous reports discussing the fungal and mycotoxin contamination of foods, there are few researches on baby food contamination so this work aimed to determine the fungal and mycotoxin contamination in cerelac, cornflakes and milk powder and tried to control the mycotoxigenic strain growth and their production of mycotoxins by using essential oils. Cornflakes were heavily contaminated (24 species including 9 genera), while cerelac and milk powder were less contaminated. Aspergillus and Penicillium were the prevalent genera. The produced aflatoxins and ochratoxins from the tested strains of Aspergillus flavus and A. niger were extracted and estimated by fluorometric method. We used the 18S rRNA sequence technique to identify the genotypes of the three isolates. Two isolates were identified as Aspergillus niger and the third isolate as A. flavus. Omt‐A gene was detected in the A. flavus, while Aopks gene was detected in A. niger isolates. Amongst the five used essential oils, only cumin and peppermint oil depressed the mycotoxigenic strain growth and peppermint oil had the highest result. Its inhibitory effect on aflatoxin and ochratoxin production was evaluated. Aflatoxin production was highly reduced by 52.1%, but ochratoxin inhibition was very low, 4.88% and 3.17% by A. niger obtained from cornflakes and milk powder, respectively. The three tested samples were contaminated by ochratoxins, but cerelac and milk powder samples were free of aflatoxins. Cornflakes sample recorded the highest reading for both toxins.

Essential Oils and Their Application in Food Safety

“…Prominent inhibition of Salmonella contamination in grape berries by fumigation with lemongrass EO has been presented by Oh et al (2017). Yassein et al (2020) demonstrated the inhibition of mycotoxigenic fungi in baby foods such as cerelac, cornflakes, and milk powder by cumin and peppermint oil with restraining effects on aflatoxin and ochratoxin production. Tables 2,3 represent the antibacterial and antifungal activities in differed food products.…”

The Egyptian Ascomycota 1: Genus Aspergillus

“…Aspergillus sp. isolated from milk powder were; A. niger (Younis et al 2016;Yassein et al 2020) , A. terreus (Yassein et al 2020), A. flavus (Younis et al 2016).…”

“…isolated from milk powder were; A. niger (Younis et al 2016;Yassein et al 2020) , A. terreus (Yassein et al 2020), A. flavus (Younis et al 2016). Yassein et al (2020) isolated A. flavus, A. niger, A. fumigatus, A. ochraceus, A. terreus (Cerelac and cornflakes), A. nidulans isolated as Emericella nidulans (Cerelac), A.…”

Antifungal, antitoxigenic, and antioxidant activities of the essential oil from laurel (Laurus nobilis L.): Potential use as wheat preservative

“…The frequency of contamination of world crops by aflatoxins shows that the strategies currently used are insufficient to guarantee the security of the foods and that it is necessary to develop others, as a complement or substitution of those already existing (Byakika et al., 2019; Lasram et al., 2019; Yassein, El‐Said, & El‐Dawy, 2020). In this context, strategies based on the use of compounds naturally recognized as not harmful to the environment and to health, seem interesting.…”