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| 2: Adv Exp Med Biol 2002;504:173-9 |
Park DL.
Division of Natural Products, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food
and Drug Administration, Washington, DC 20204, USA.
Naturally occurring toxicant contamination of foods with mycotoxins is
unavoidable and unpredictable and poses a unique challenge to food safety.
Aflatoxins are toxic mold metabolites produced by toxigenic strains of
Aspergillus species. Primary commodities susceptible to aflatoxin contamination
include corn, peanuts and cottonseed and animal-derived foods such as milk when
the animal is fed aflatoxin-contaminated feed. Risks associated with aflatoxin-contaminated
foods can be reduced through the use of specific processing and decontamination
procedures. Factors, which influence the effectiveness of a specific process or
procedure, include the chemical stability of the mycotoxin(s), nature of the
process, type and interaction with the food/feed matrix and interaction with
multiple mycotoxins if present. Practical decontamination procedures must: 1)
inactivate, destroy, or remove the toxin, 2) not produce or leave toxic residues
in the food/feed, 3) retain the nutritive value of the food/feed, 4) not alter
the acceptability or the technological properties of the product, and, if
possible, 5) destroy fungal spores. For aflatoxins, multiple processing and/or
decontamination schemes have been successful in reducing aflatoxin
concentrations to acceptable levels. Physical cleaning and separation
procedures, where the mold-damaged kernel/seed/nut is removed from the intact
commodity, can result in 40-80% reduction in aflatoxins levels. Processes such
as dry and wet milling result in the distribution of aflatoxin residues into
less utilized fractions of the commodity. The ammoniation of aflatoxin-contaminated
commodities has altered the concentrations as well as toxic and carcinogenic
effects of aflatoxin by greater than 99%. Nonbiological materials such as
selected anticaking agents covalently bind aflatoxins from aqueous suspensions,
diminish aflatoxin uptake by animals, prevent acute aflatoxicosis, and decrease
aflatoxin residues in milk. Ultimately, the best processing or decontamination
process is one that is approved by regulatory agencies, cost-effective, and
reduces the mycotoxin concentration to acceptable levels.
Publication Types:
PMID: 11922084