Research Publications (Food Safety)

This study aimed to compare AFM1 occurrence in different cheese types produced by organic and conventional systems; and to evaluate the risk of food exposure to AFM1. A total of 176 commercial cheeses of 17 types were analyzed, 84 of organic and 92 of conventional production.

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.

The presence of AFM 1 in milk is a public health concern, since milk is a significant part of human diets across nations.   In economies where monitoring is low or non-existent, the possibility of contamination with AFM 1 might be increased. Our study aimed to detect and quantify the concentration of AFM 1 in fluid milk and milk drink of different brands, fat contents, packages and, heat treatments sold in the Metropolitan Area of Asunción.

Study was carried out to evaluate the incidence of mycobiota and contamination of AFB 1  in sesame seeds from rainfed and irrigated zones of the Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, 100 sesame seed samples were collected directly from the fields of major sesame-producing areas of the rainfed and irrigated zone. Samples were subjected to the Agar Plate Method for the isolation of mycobiota and thin-layer chromatography for AFB 1 contaminations.

This study establishes a rapid and accurate method to identify aflatoxin contamination in peanut oil. Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, combined with either partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) or a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, were used to construct discriminative models for distinguishing between uncontaminated and aflatoxin-contaminated peanut oil.

Almonds rejected as inedible are often used for production of almond oil. However, low-quality almonds are frequently contaminated with aflatoxins, and little is known regarding transfer of aflatoxins to almond oil during processing. In this study, oil was produced from reject almonds by hexane extraction.

The objective of this study was to investigate the occurrence of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in Chinese liquid milk products. A total of 190 liquid milk samples, including 168 ultra-high temperature treated (UHT) milk samples and 22 pasteurized milk (PM) samples were collected in August 2019. A screening assay with the Charm Rapid Test Kit and a confirmation method with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were used for AFM1 analysis.

Blanching of almonds was examined for reducing aflatoxin content of contaminated nuts.  Almonds with intact pellicles were spiked with aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) and blanched at 85°C.  Following blanching, almond kernels and pellicles contained 20% and 19% of spiked AFB 1 , respectively.  Blanching water contained an additional 41% of spiked AFB 1 .  In a separate study, post-blanching water was spiked with AFB 1­ and used for subsequent blanching of uncontaminated almonds.&nb

The aim of the study was to determine the levels of aflatoxin B1 (AFB 1 ) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in durum wheat samples collected over six period of time, from two official warehouses A and B in Lebanon. The concentrations of AFB 1 in wheat samples taken from warehouses A and B were ranging from 1.05 to 7.36 µg/kg. Results showed that 23.3% and 25.3% of samples taken from warehouse A and B respectively had AFB 1 levels greater than 2 μg/kg (> 2 μg/kg).

During grape cultivation and wine production, the most effective way to prevent ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination of grapes and wine is the control of ochratoxigenic fungal species, and especially Aspergillus carbonarius, using the appropriate cultivation techniques. In this study, the influence of Organic (OFS) and Integrated (IFS) farming systems, on the incidence of A. carbonarius on grapes, and OTA contamination of wine, were examined.

A wide range of fungal species is associated with post-harvest spoilage of grapes. However, Aspergillus carbonarius is the primary fungus responsible for the contamination of grapes with ochratoxin A, a mycotoxin causing several confirmed health effects to humans and animals. Aiming to find a method, safe for the consumers, to prevent post-harvest decay and ochratoxin A contamination of grapes, the potential use of essential oils as preservatives was investigated.

Aspergillus flavus may colonise hazelnuts and produce aflatoxins in field and during storage. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of drying temperature and exposure times on the viability and ability of A. flavus to produce aflatoxins during the drying process and storage. Hazelnuts were inoculated with A.

This study was conducted to determine the occurrence of 16 well recognized and emerging mycotoxins in black and white sesame seed samples being commercialized in Thailand, and to evaluate health risk assessment in consumers. Samples were extracted and cleaned up by a modified QuEChERS based procedure. Multi-mycotoxins in sesame seed samples were analyzed using a validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method.

Flax seed has become an increasingly popular food ingredient because of its nutrient richness as well as potential health benefits.  Flax seeds are often ground before consumption and flax seed cakes are used as animal feed.  Aflatoxin production may occur subsequently when the ground seeds are stored in an environment supporting fungal growth. The objectives of this study were to determine the growth of two  toxigenic fungi, Aspergillus flavus and A.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 82, Issue 9, Page 1472-1478, September 2019.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 82, Issue 8, Page 1433-1439, August 2019.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 82, Issue 8, Page 1390-1397, August 2019.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 82, Issue 7, Page 1176-1182, July 2019.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 82, Issue 5, Page 796-803, May 2019.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 82, Issue 5, Page 785-795, May 2019.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 81, Issue 9, Page 1508-1518, September 2018.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 80, Issue 12, Page 1993-1998, November 2017.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 80, Issue 10, Page 1737-1741, October 2017.

Journal of Food Protection, Volume 80, Issue 10, Page 1628-1634, October 2017.