Occurrence and analysis of mycotoxins in domestic Chinese herbal medicines

Abstract

For time immemorial, Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) have been widely used in China for disease treatment and promotion of general well-being. However, in recent years, many studies have shown that mycotoxins produced by fungi could contaminate CHMs due to unfavourable pre-or post-harvest conditions, raising major concern for consumer safety. At present, there is a significant focus on developing novel mycotoxin detection methods for analysing CHMs, and numerous studies have aimed to determine which kinds of raw herbal materials are most susceptible to mycotoxin contamination. In this review, we focus on recent advances in understanding and detection of mycotoxins in domestic raw herbal materials and related products from 2000 to 2018. Aspects of mycotoxin contamination of CHMs covered in this review include common mycotoxin contaminants in CHMs, maximum mycotoxin residue limits, analytical methods for mycotoxin detection and their applications and limitations, as well as a brief discussion of the trends in ongoing research. ARTICLE HISTORY

Worldwide aflatoxin contamination of agricultural products and foods: From occurrence to control

“…Additionally, aflatoxin present in samples of Chinese Traditional Medicines and other herbal medicines are reported in various published literature. A summary of research data accumulated from 2000 to 2018 indicates that 2979 batches of Chinese traditional herbs from 66 varieties prone to aflatoxin contamination were tested, of which 697 batches tested positive for aflatoxin with levels ranging from 0.02 to 1268.8 µg/kg (Qin et al., 2020). Another study by Zhao et al.…”

Citrinin in Foods and Supplements: A Review of Occurrence and Analytical Methodologies

“…The effects of CIT can synergize with other mycotoxins, namely OTA and PAT, to inflict more pernicious effects on tissues and organs [ 17 ]. It can act synergistically with OTA to depress RNA synthesis in murine kidneys; however, it appears to be considerably less toxic than OTA [ 5 ].…”

Determination of patulin in products containing dried fruits by Enzyme‐Linked Immunosorbent Assay technique Patulin in dried fruits

“…However, further research is needed to clarify this hypothesis. In additional, PAT may act synergistically with other mycotoxins such as citrinin, causing more extensive effect on human tissues and organs (Qin et al., 2020 ). The presence of mycotoxins other than PAT in food is also a serious health problem (Moretti et al., 2017 ).…”

“…However, further research is needed to clarify this hypothesis. In additional, PAT may act synergistically with other mycotoxins such as citrinin, causing more extensive effect on human tissues and organs (Qin et al, 2020).…”