Innovative technologies to manage aflatoxins in foods and feeds and the profitability of application – A review

Abstract

Aflatoxins are mainly produced by certain strains of Aspergillus flavus, which are found in diverse agricultural crops. In many lower-income countries, aflatoxins pose serious public health issues since the occurrence of these toxins can be considerably common and even extreme. Aflatoxins can negatively affect health of livestock and poultry due to contaminated feeds. Additionally, they significantly limit the development of international trade as a result of strict regulation in high-value markets. Due to their high stability, aflatoxins are not only a problem during cropping, but also during storage, transport, processing, and handling steps. Consequently, innovative evidence-based technologies are urgently required to minimize aflatoxin exposure. Thus far, biological control has been developed as the most innovative potential technology of controlling aflatoxin contamination in crops, which uses competitive exclusion of toxigenic strains by non-toxigenic ones. This technology is commercially applied in groundnuts maize, cottonseed, and pistachios during pre-harvest stages. Some other effective technologies such as irradiation, ozone fumigation, chemical and biological control agents, and improved packaging materials can also minimize post-harvest aflatoxins contamination in agricultural products. However, integrated adoption of these pre- and post-harvest technologies is still required for sustainable solutions to reduce aflatoxins contamination, which enhances food security, alleviates malnutrition, and strengthens economic sustainability.

Effect of ozonation and UV irradiation on aflatoxin degradation of peanuts

“…Kamber, Gülbaz, Aksu, and Doğan () evaluated the effects of three different ozone concentrations on the detoxification of dried red pepper samples, the results showed that a low dose of ozone application was more effective than higher dose application. It is generally considered that low concentration of ozone or short exposure time is more appropriate (Udomkun et al, ). Accordingly, the results demonstrated UV/O 3 were in compliance with the detoxifying effects of peanuts with ozone gas at concentration of 5 mg/L and detoxification time of 30 min.…”

Cold Plasma for Effective Fungal and Mycotoxin Control in Foods: Mechanisms, Inactivation Effects, and Applications

“…Gamma irradiation has been a promising intervention against mycotoxins and accepted by the food industry for treatment of dry food. Gamma irradiation produces high energy photons, which interact with microbial cells and induce DNA rupture (Udomkun et al, 2017). The chemical treatments using acetic acid, citric acid, lactic acid under simulated cooking (Aiko & Mehta, 2016) and bases such as NH 3 , Ca(OH) 2 , Na 2 CO 3 (Park, Lee, Price, & Pohland, 1988), oxidizing agents (for example, ozone), reducing agents (for example, NaHSO 3 ) are also used to reduce mycotoxins (Temba et al, 2016).…”

Near Infrared Spectrometry for Rapid Non-Invasive Modelling of Aspergillus-Contaminated Maturing Kernels of Maize (Zea mays L.)

“…Management is a critical strategy for aflatoxin reduction. Aflatoxin management strategies include biological control [6,7], predictive modelling [8], innovative storage techniques [9], breeding efforts [10,11], aflatoxin reduction strategies [12] and detection [13]. However, detection plays a key role in aflatoxin management because many intervention methods hinge on the ability to monitor the production of the toxin [14,15].…”