Research Publications (Food Safety)

A corn flour certified reference material (KRISS CRM 108-01-011) was developed to ensure accurate and reliable measurements of type B trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol), and deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside. The material was freeze-dried, ground, sieved, and well-mixed. The final produced CRM was packaged at 14 g per unit and stored at –70 °C.

Zearalenone (ZEN), also known as the F-2 toxin, is a common contaminant in cereal crops and livestock products. This experiment aimed to reveal the changes in the proteomics of ZEN-induced intestinal damage in weaned piglets by tandem mass spectrometry tags. Sixteen weaned piglets either received a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented with 3.0 mg/kg ZEN in a 32 d study.

Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Accepted Article. Aflatoxins are hepatocarcinogenic and immunosuppressive mycotoxins mainly synthesized by Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, and A. nomius in food systems causing negative health impacts to humans and other organisms.

Most of the toxic effects of fumonisins can be related to sphingolipid alteration, but there is little sphingolipidomic data in animals fed fumonisins in organs other than the liver. This study aimed to measure fumonisin B1 (FB1) in kidney, lung, and brain and determine its effects on sphingolipids. Thirty chickens divided into three groups received a diet containing 20.8 mg FB1+FB2/kg for 0, 4, or 9 days.

Aflatoxin contamination of feed poses a great risk to the global dairy industry. Analyzing the aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced metabonomic changes in ruminants and screening potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of AFB1 exposure is urgently needed.

Aflatoxin contamination of staple crops by Aspergillus flavus and closely related fungi is common across the Sahel region of Africa. Aflatoxins in maize, groundnut, and sorghum collected at harvest or from farmers’ stores within two weeks of harvest from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger were quantified. Thereafter, aflatoxin exposure values were assessed using per capita consumption rates of those crops.

Mycotoxins are generated by a series of fungal pathogens in postharvest fruit, resulting in serious health threat to consumers and great economic loss to the fruit storage industry. The microbial differences between rotten and healthy fruit during storage and their relationship with mycotoxin production have not been fully studied.

Dried red chili is an popular spice widely used in the world, but is vulnerable to be contaminated by toxigenic fungi, resulting in ochratoxin A contamination. The current study detected OTA contents in both chili peels (n = 49) and seeds (n = 49) of Guizhou dried red chilies.

Patulin (PAT) is one of mycotoxins that usually contaminates apple juice, and it is not easily detoxified by cysteine (CYS) at room temperature due to the highly acidic conditions based on the Michael addition reaction. However, it could be effectively degraded by a heating treatment at 120 °C for 30 min in the presence of cysteine.

Traditional dry-cured hams are easily contaminated by toxigenic fungi during the fermentation and ripening stages. The detection and positive rates of ochratoxin A (OTA) are the highest among mycotoxins detected in traditional dry-cured hams, indicating that OTA in hams is a potential safety hazard to human health.

Aspergillus westerdijkiae is an ochratoxin A (OTA) producer mould in dry-cured meat products.

Aflatoxins are the secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus and have severe pathological effects on the health of human and animals. The present study was designed to investigate the toxicopathological changes induced by aflatoxins and mitigative potential of Lactobacillus plantarum in broiler birds.

Medicinal plants are important in the South African traditional healthcare system, the growth in the consumption has led to increase in trade through muthi shops and street vendors. Medicinal plants are prone to contamination with fungi and their mycotoxins.

Flour samples spiked with ochratoxin A (OTA) (3,10 and 20 μg kg–1), zearalenone (ZEA) (75, 100, and 200 μg kg–1), and deoxynivalenol (DON) (500, 750, and 1000 μg kg–1), and combined mycotoxins (OTA, ZEA and DON at 20,

Cereals and cereal-based products are primary sources of nutrition across the world. However, contamination of these foods with aflatoxins (AFs), secondary metabolites produced by several fungal species, has raised serious concerns. AF generation in innate substrates is influenced by several parameters, including the substrate type, fungus species, moisture content, minerals, humidity, temperature, and physical injury to the kernels.

Sensitive detection for deoxynivalenol (DON) should be developed due to DON as a kind of harmful mycotoxins which can poses health risk to human health even at low concentrations. In this work, an electrochemiluminescence (ECL) DON aptasensor was proposed based on Ti3C2 dots/Ti3C2 nanosheet (TDTN). Compared with Ti3C2 dots and Ti3C2 nanosheet, the ECL intensity of TDTN was 4 times of Ti3C2 dots and 2 times of Ti3C2 nanosheet as emitters.

Okadaic acid (OA) is an important marine lipophilic phycotoxin responsible for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning 

Maize is the main staple food crop in the eastern part of Ethiopia. However, maize loss is a major issue due to fungal contamination especially at the post-harvest stage owing to inadequate handling practices. This study aimed to assess post-harvest handling and awareness against fungal development and fumonisin B1 (FB1) in maize and to calculate risk exposures of FB1.

The antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi isolated from Euphorbia milii was evaluated against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria, unicellular yeast, and filamentous fungi. Chaetomium ovatoascomatis NRC was identified morphologically and genetically as the most active strain. The total ethyl acetate extract of C.

Due to the technical challenges of small binding aptamer development, reliable computational simulation studies can be considered as effective tools to design novel and high functional mycotoxin aptameric probes. Here, two novel aflatoxin B1(AFB1) binding aptamers were successfully exploited as recognition elements in the lateral flow aptasensors and the reflective phantom interface (RPI) platform.

Food and feed are frequently co-contaminated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and zearalenone (ZEN). This study investigated the effects of ZEN on the AFB1–induced liver and mammary gland toxicity in pregnant and lactating rats.

Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) is an acute intoxication caused by the consumption of contaminated shellfish, which is common in many regions of the world. To safeguard human health, most countries implement programs focused on the surveillance of toxic phytoplankton abundance and shellfish toxicity levels, an effort that can be complemented by a deeper understanding of the underlying phenomena.

Biological control through the application of competitive non-aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) to the soil during peanut growth is a practical method for controlling aflatoxin contamination. However, appropriate materials need to be found to reduce the cost of biocontrol products. In this study, a two-year experiment was conducted under field conditions in China, using a native non-aflatoxigenic strain to explore its effect.

Deoxynivalenol is one the of most common mycotoxins in cereals and grains and causes a serious health threat to poultry and farm animals. Our previous study found that DON decreased the production performance of laying hens. It has been reported that DON could exert significant toxic effects on the intestinal barrier and microbiota.

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary fungal metabolites that contaminate feeds, and their levels remain stable during feed processing. The economic impact of mycotoxins on animal production is mainly due to losses related to direct effects on animal health and trade losses related to grain rejection. Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a trichothecene mycotoxin with a worldwide prevalence of about 80%, which induces many toxic effects on human and animal health.