Microbiology

MYCOTOXIN, TYPES AND THEIR DECONTAMINATION METHODS

CHPATER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. DEFINITION OF MYCOTOXIN

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by filamentous fungi belonging to the phylum Ascomycota, and they have great importance in the health of humans and animals, being cause of acute and chronic diseases (Tola and Kebede, 2016; Misihairabgwi et al., 2019. According to Bennett (1987), He suggested a definition of mycotoxins as natural products produced by fungi that induce a toxic response when introduced at a low concentration to higher vertebrates and other animals via natural route. Some mycotoxin can have additional effects such as phytotoxicity or antimicrobial activity. The Greek word “’mykes’’ meaning ‘’fungi’’ and the Latin word ‘’toxicum’’ meaning ‘’poison’’ are the origin of the word mycotoxin (Pittet, 1998). A variety of fungi such as Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, and Alternaria colonize their host and produce mycotoxins (Kagot et al., 2019). Presently, appromixately 400 compounds identified as mycotoxins, 30 are well recognized, and they are considered a threat to human or animal health (Alassane-Kpembi et al., 2017). The most important mycotoxins are aflatoxins (AF), fumonisins, ochratoxin (OT), zearalenone (ZEA), deoxynivalenol (DON), citrinin, and patulin. Mycotoxins cannot be detected with the naked eye, but they can be seen when viewed under the ultraviolet (UV) light, moreover, they have no characteristic odor and they do not alter the oragnoleptic characteristics of food (Winter and Pereg, 2019). Some mycotoxins are produced by more than one species of fungi, while some are capable of producing more than one mycotoxin. Moreover, there is more than one mycotoxin found on a contaminated substrate (Zain, 2011). Favourable climate conditions cause more fungal and mycotoxin contamination in developing and tropical countries than in developed and temperate ones (Ayofemi, 2019). In addition, downstream processing such as poor harvesting practices, inadequate storage and less than optimal conditions during transportation, processing and marketing may also lead to fungi growth and increase the risk of the major food spoilage agent induced by mycotoxin production (Khazaeli et al., 2014). Because of their ubiquitious nature of fungi, mycotoxin have been increasingly attracted the concern of health organizations where the occurrence in foods cannot be ignored and already poses risks to consumers (Jahanaian, 2016).

1.2. OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF MYCOTOXIN

Approximately 25% of the world’s harvested crops are contaminated with mycotoxin every year, resulting in massive agricultural and industrial losses of billions of dollars as reviewed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Oragnization (Marin et al., 2013; Pandya and Arade, 2016). Mycotoxins are avilable in various products such as animal feed, cereal crops, leguminous plants and animal products. Animal feeds commonly harbour mycotoxins are wheat bran, noug cake, pea hull and maize grain. Concentrated animal feedstuff harbours the growth of mycotoxin. Noug cake was justified the key source of aflatoxin contaminant among these concentrtaed animal feeds. Because, noug is indigenous and contributes up to 5% oil seed cap with its oil content varying from 30% to 50%. The oil production lines produce cooking oil by squeezing the nou seed and extricating the oil while the remaining noug cake is sold as animal feed to the feed processor or directly to the ranchers. Noug cake is progressively utilized in Ethiopia for its high nutrient content to increase animal productiivity and profitability in small scale. It is additionally exported to North America and Europe, where it is predominantly utilized for bird-feed (Gizachew et al., 2016). Mycotoxin contaminated intensity in leguminous crop varies geographically and groundnut is the main source of mycotoxin (Pereira et al., 2014; Marta and Bedaso, 2016). Groundnut seed is predominantly infected with Asperfillus flavus and Aspergillus niger (Gebreselassie et al., 2014). Cereal crops like barley like barley, sorghum, teff and wheat are the main source of mycotoxins. Mycotoxin can be transferred from feed to foodof animal origin, as this food is an essential route of human exposure. In addition to the toxicological effect in animals, they carry and tranfer products derived from animals such as meat, milk and eggs into the human food chain (Demissie, 2018). They can also be distributed in pre hravest period (time of plant growing), post harvest during processing, packaging, distribution and storage of food products. Conclusively, all crops and cereals that are stored improperly for a long time under favorable temperature and humidity facilitate mold growth and may be contaminated with mycotoxins (Ahmad and Jae-Hyuk, 2017); no boundaries will restrict fungal growth and mycotoxin production unless appropriate action is taken.

1.3. IMPORTANCE OF MYCOTOXIN

Mycotoxins have a wide range of negative and toxic effect in animals affecting their overall health and productively. Mycotoxin causes mycotoxicosis and causes major economic losses in animals due to lower productivity, increased incidence of disease and decreased reproductive performance (Enyiukwu et al., 2014). The ingestion of mycotoxins can produce both acute (short term) and chronic (medium and long term) toxicities ranging from death to chronic interferences with the function of the central nervous, cardiovascular, pulmonary system and of the alimentary tract. Some mycotoxins are carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and immunosuppressive (Adeyeye, 2016). Aflatoxin B for example, is one of the most potent hepatocarcinogens known (IARC, 2002). In the last 30 years, mycotoxins have drawn worldwide attention, firstly because of their potential effects on human health, secondly because of economic losses accruing from condenmed food or feed and decreased animal productivity and thirdly because of the significant impact of mycotoxin contamination on commodities traded internationally.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE PRODUCTION OF MYCOTOXIN AND CONTAMINATION OF FEED AND FOOD

A major difficulty in accessing the risk to human and animal health of mycotoxins is the multiplicity of factors that affect the production or presence of mycotoxin in food or feeds. The mere isolation and confirmation in food and feeds of mycotoxic fungal species does not indicate the presence of mycotoxins. Upon the advancement of the precise and sensitive techniques for qualitative and quantitative examination of mycotoxins, researchers found that different factors function interdependently to affect fungal colonization or mycotoxin growth classified the factors as physical, chemical and biological (D’Mello and MacDonald, 1997). Physical factors iclude environmental conditions viz temperature, relative humdity and insect infestation (Margherita et al., 2012). Physical factors such as time of exposure, temperature during exposure, humdity and degree of insect or other damage to product before exposure determine contamination of mycotoxins in the field or during storage. Chemical factors include the use of fertilizer and fungicide. Stresses such as drought, temperature increase and increase in relative humdity can selectively alter colonization and therefore alter the production of mycotoxin. Biological factors are based on the interaction between toxic fungal colonizing species and substrates. Although certain plant species are more vulnerable to colonization, environmental conditions may increase the vulnerability of other more resistant plant species (Margherita et al., 2012). Factors can be either intrinsic, extrinsic, processing each of which including moisture content, water activity, substrate type, plant type and nutrient composition; climate change, temperature, oxygen level; drying, blending, addition of perservatives, handling of grains; insect interaction, fungal strain and microbiological ecosystem respectively (Gabriel and Puleng, 2013).

Climate change has been proposed as perhaps the most imporatnt environmental issue facing the world and most affected has been Africa (Paterson and Lima, 2010). In fact, 2016 was identified as the hottest year in about a century, and consequently, a manifestation of this was Southern Africa’s 2016 El-nino drought episode, which resulted in agricultural losses amounting to million of US dollars ($). These imbalances, drastic changes in rainfall, temperature and patterns may increase the risk of pathogen migration and influence crop colonization by mycotoxigenic fungal genera (Magan et al., 2011). Since production of mycotoxin is climate dependent, changes in climate conditions have been suggested and proven to lead to possible drastic modification in fungal population and attendant mycotoxin production (Madgwick et al., 2011; Vander fel-Klerx et al., 2016).

A recent study predicts this fungal pathogens and pest proliferate from the equator to the Earth’s polar region at a rate of 5-6km annually (Magan and Medina, 2016). Drought and plant stress make crops more vulnerable to disease and fungal attack, thus increasing mycotoxin contamination, which reduces crop quality and yield, and decreases livestock production, disease tolerance and fertility. Futrthermore, the adaptation of known mycotoxic fungal species to climate change condition could lead to a more aggressive and invasive behaviour of the fungi resulting in the colonization of new territories, increased mycotoxin production and possibly the potential for the production of entirely new mycotoxin, which poses a significant threat to food security, safety and health in Africa and other developing countries (Magan and Medina, 2016; Medina et al., 2017). Type of substrate can also play a part in selecting for or against toxin producing strains of a given species, e.g. a high proportion of Aspergillus flavus toxin producing strains isolated from peanuts and cotton seed than from rice or sorghum. Food or feed contamination with mycotoxin can result from inadequate storage and/or handling of the harvested products.

Africa is the wrold’s poorest continent. Nearly one in five people living in Africa are undernourished and/or hungry, the highest incidence of such in the world. This can be of enormous importance for the quality of food commodities consumed in Africa (Hedden et al., 2016). There are insufficient resources to implement appropriate technologies and systems to control the proliferation of mycotoxin, and in dire need of food and ‘’quenching’’ hunger, the quality and safety of food ingested is totally irrevelant (although still clearly contaminated). Furthermore, limited public awareness of the danger posed by mycotoxin contamination of produce has been identified as a major factor responsible for its high incidence in Africa (Chihombori-Quao and Arikana, 2017). Majority of farmers produce and food handlers and/or processors are illiterate with virtually no knowledge of toxigenic mould growth implication.

1.4. MYCOTOXIN CONTAMINATION OF FOOD AND BIOLOGICAL FLUIDS

Food contamination with mycotoxin is more common in developing countries where poor food quality control, warm climate, poor production technology and crop storage conditions are sufficient for fungal growth and toxin formation (Belqes et al., 2019). Mycotoxin occurrence in food or feed is either consequences of direct contamination of plant materials or products thereof, or by carry-over of mycotoxins and their metabolites into the animal tissues, milk and eggs after contaminated feed intake (Escriva, 2017). As a consequence of carry-over and bioaccumulation, mycotocin contamination was reported not only in a number of agricultural commodities, food or feedstuffs, but also in animal derived products and biological fluids and tissues from animals and humans at geographically diversed locations (Yang et al., 2014).

Table 1: Mycotoxin in food in some Africa countries

Country/Region	Food	Mycotoxin	References
Cameroon	Maize fufu	DON PAT ZEN	Abia et al., 2017
Cote d’Ivore	Garba	OTA	Anoman et al., 2018
Ghana	Ice-kenkey		Atter et al., 2015
Nigeria	Roasted groundnut Roasted cashew nut Garri Sausage roll	tAF Af DON T-2	Afolabi et al., 2015 Adetunji et al., 2018 Chilaka et al., 2018 Jonathan et al., 2016
Zambia	Peanut butter	Afs	Banda et al., 2018
Egypt	Fresh kariesh cheese Damietta cheese		Awad et al., 2014

Abbreviation: AFB1, aflatoxin B1; AFB2, aflatoxin B2; AFG1, aflatoxin G1; AFG2, aflatoxin G2, AF, aflatoxins; tAF, totalaflatoxin; AFM1, aflatoxin M1; OTA, ochratoxin; DON,deoxynivalenol; PAT,patulin; ZEN, zearalenone

Table 2: Mycotoxin in Biological samples from different species

Species	Biological sample	Mycotoxin	References
Human	Serum	OTA	Koller et al., 2016
	Urine	OTA	Ali et al., 2017
	Breast milk	OTA	Andrade et al., 2013 Massart et al., 2016
Chicken	Serum	DON	Devreese at al., 2014
Cow	Milk		Britzi et al., 2013
Rat	Serum, Urine, Faeces	EN A EN A1 EN B EN B1	Escriva et al., 2015
Donkey	Milk		Tozzi et al., 2016
Cattle	Urine	STG	Fushimi et al., 2014

Abbreviation: AFB1, aflatoxin B1; AFB2, aflatoxin B2; AFG1, aflatoxin G1; AFG2, aflatoxin G2, AFM1, aflatoxin M1; OTA, ochratoxin; DON,deoxynivalenol; STG, sterigmatocystin; EN, enniatin (A. A1, B, B1)

CHAPTER TWO: MAJOR TYPES OF MYCOTOXIN

2.1. AFLATOXIN

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites, and they belong to the category of difuranocoumarins (Peterson et al., 2001; Adeyeye, 2016). Aflatoxin is produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus under warm and humid conditions, which are commonly found in food or feeds (Richard, 2007; Kumar, 2017). The optinum environment for aflatoxin growth is 33 and 0.99 (water activity).The toxins were the first mycotoxin discovered in the early 1960 as the causative agent of the tukey X epidemic which results in the death of 100, 000 turkey poults, duckling which was traced to the consumption of mold contaminated peanut meal (D’ Mello and MacDonald, 1997; Wu, 2014). For all mycotoxins, aflatoxins are best known for their significant effects on human and animal health. Four main types of aflatoxins are the most studied among more than 20 known ones that are aflatoxin, and named after the fluorscence they display in ultraviolet (UV) light (B for blue and G for green). The hydroxylated metabolites of and are aflatoxin () and aflatoxin () which are present in the meat of animlas that consumed aflatoxin contaminated feed, also animal products such as milk and dairy products (D Mello and MacDonald, 1997; Kumar, 2017).

is considered the most toxic aflatoxin and the most potent carcinogenic substances, thus classified as Group 1 human caricinogen (IARC, 2002). Liver is the primary target organ of . Pre harvest and post harvest factors are related to the production of Aflatoxins. Thus, pre harvest weather conditions associated with the periods of drought and stress during flowering and fruit growth were reported to be the main factors responsible for the increased infection with aflatoxins produced by A. flavus and A. parasiticus in maize, cotton, pistachio and nuts (Kebede et al., 2012). Due to their stablity to severe processing of roasting, baking, extrusion and cooking, aflatoxin also induce a great problem in processed food such as roasted nut and bakery products and it can be found alone or simultaneously, also co-occurring with other mycotoxins such as OTA (Marin et al., 2013). Aflatoxin are linked to various diseases, such as aflatoxicosis, in animals, pet and humans around the world (Adeyeye, 2016), and they are considered to be particularly harmful as they are carcinogenic, mutagenic (DNA damaging), teratogenic, and immunosuppressive effects.

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Aflatoxin

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Aflatoxin

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

FUMONISINS

Fumonisins are fusarium toxins discovered in 1988 (Marasas, 1988) and constitute the large family of compounds (Antonio et al., 2018) which occur in cereals mainly in corn originating from pathogenic fungi, mostly Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium proliferatum which have a long chain hydrocarbon unit (similar to that of sphingosine and sphinganine) which play a role in their toxicity (Rheeder et al., 2002; EFSA, 2005). Also, Aspergillus niger can produce fumonisins on grapes and raisins (Frisvad et al., 2011). Today, 28 fumonisins have been isolated, which are divided into four groups A, B, C and P (Rheeder et al., 2002; Alberts et al., 2016). The fumonisin B (FB) analogue, which include, and, occur in nature with the highest frequency, whereas , is usually found in the highest concentrations (Alberts et al., 2016). Fumonisins cause health effects in animals, especially in the liver and kidney, although data for the healtheffects of fumonisins in humans remian limited (JECFA, 2018). can cause leukoencephalomacia in horses (Marasas, 1988), and pulmonary edema syndrome and hydrothorax in pigs (Haschek et al., 1992).

The is classified possibly as a member of group 2B human carcinogen (IARC, 2002; Ben-Taheur et al., 2017). is a deoxy analogue of , less abundant than but has important toxicological effect. , is present in the lower concentration and has lower toxicological significance. Because of similarities in favourable fungal growth conditions, which consist of high temepratures and humid climate (15-30, 0.9-0.995), fumonisin often co occur with aflatoxin, especially in corn.

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Fumonisin

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

2.3. OCHRATOXIN

Ochratoxin (OT) can be categorized into three A, B and C, OTA is the most abundant and harmful mycotoxin that contaminates foods among the three (Jordan and Pattison, 1996; Alhamoud et al., 2019). OTA was first identified and characterized from fungus Aspergillus ochraceus in South Africa, from which it derives its name (Van der Merwe et al., 1965). Aspergillus and penicillium are the two main genera of OTA producers with the main producing species of Aspergillus section Circumdati, Aspergillus section Nigri, Penicillium verrucosum Penicillium thymicola and Penicillium nordicum (EFSA, 2006; Marin et al., 2013). The non-chlorintaed analogue, ochratoxin B, which is much less toxic, sometimes co occurs with OTA in food and feed (Udovicki et al., 2018). Although OTA produced by Aspergillus may likely occur during pre harvest, recent studies (Limay-Rios et al., 2017) have highlighted OTA grains as being mainly a storage problem.

Ochratoxin is linked to immunotoxic, genotoxic, neurotoxic, carcinogenic, nephrotoxic and teratogenic effects, OTA considered the most toxic one among the ochratoxin family members. Moreover, it is classified by the IARC as possble human carcinogen group 2B (Ostry et al., 2017), but the specific mechanism of toxicicty is not fully understood. Increased incidence of testicular cancer in animal is associated with ingestion of OTA (Marin et al., 2013). Although OTA could decompose in rumen, it has benn found in cow’s milk (Zhao et al., 2020).

Ochratoxin A has been found in cereals, such as barley, rye, wheat, in coffee and cocoa beans, rice, dried fruits, species, and other plant products, with barley having a particularly high likelihood of contamination worldwide (Reddy et al., 2010; Aldars-Garcia et al., 2016). Ochratoxin production is observed in the (water activity) range of 0.92-0.99, with the maximum concentration being in the range of 0.95-0.99 depending on the strains. The optinum temperature for OTA production is 20, followed by the temperature of 15, with significantly lower production at 30-37 (EFSA, 2006). Considering that Aspergillus and responsible for the production of OTAs have a temperature range of 12-47 for A. ochraceus and 0-31 for P. verrucosum, OTA can be produced in all agricultural areas in the world (Lee and Ryu, 2017).

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Ochratoxin A

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

2.4. DEOXYNIVALENOL

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is produced by fungi of the fusarium genus, mainly by Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum, which are associated with fusarium head blight (FHB) disease in cereals especially oats, barley, wheat rye, maize and less frequently in rice, sorghum and triticale (EFSA, 2013; Pascariet et al., 2019); it can also contaminates cereal derived product such as bread, pasta and beer. Among trichothecenes (TC) mycotoxin, DON, also denoted as vomitoxin, is the most important among the Type B trichothecenes due to its natural occurrence in high level. Because of its effect in human along with its resistance to food processing great efforts with its presence in food have been done (Patriarca, 2016). The most common route of exposure to DON is through the food. Acute gastrointestinal diarrhea may occur in animals after ingestion of highly contaminated animal feed. Symtoms such as anorexia, suppression of body weight gain, hepatotoxicity, dermatological problems and altered nutritional efficacy appear after long term dietary exposure to DON. The acute effects of DON on animals and humans are similar (ESFA, 2013). The mutagenic and/or carcinogenic properities of DON are not established by experimental or epidermiological evidence and, thus classified DON as not carcinogenic to human group 3 (IARC, 1993). The optinum temperature for the production of this toxin occurs at 26-30 and 0.995(Milani, 2013).

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Deoxynivalenol

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

2.5. ZEARALENONE

Zearalenone (ZEN) is a mycotoxin that primarily produced by Fusarium graminearum (Gibberella zeae) and Fusarium culmorum infecting cereal and foods worlwide, mainly in temperate climates (Tola and Kebede, 2016; Rai et al, 2019). While contamination with ZEN is low in grains in the field, it increases in storage conditions with moisture of more than 30-40% (Tola and Kebede, 2016). ZEA is classfied as a group 3 carcinogen (IARC, 1993). ZEN is a non steriodal estrogenic mycotoxin and works by mimicking the effects of the female estrogen hormone, affecting conception, ovulation and fetal development at concentration above 1mg/kg (Calori-Domingues et al., 2016). ZEN can lead to hyperestrogenism, mainly affecting the reproduction. The most susceptible specie to ZEN infection is prepubertal swine. Swelling of the vulva, increases in uterine size and secretions, mammary gland hyperplasia and secretion, prolonged estrus, anestrus, increased incidence of pseudopregnanacy, infertility, decreased libido and secondary complication of rectal and vaginal prolapses, stillbirths, and small litters are some of the tropical clinical symtoms of hyperestrogenism (Tola and Kebede, 2016). The optimum temperature for zearalenone production occurs at 25 and 0.96(Milani, 2013).

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Zearalenone

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

2.6. PATULIN

Patulin (PAT) is a secondary metabolite discovered in 1943 (Birkinshaw et al., 1943). In total, patulin is known to be produced by 60 different fungal species such as Penicillium expansum, Penicillium crustosum, Penicillium patulum (Penicillium urticae, Penicillium griseofulvum), Byssoclamys fulva, Aspergillus clavatus, whereas Penicillium expansum is the most common PAT producer (Drusch and Ragab, 2003; Walravens et al., 2014). Structurally, patulin is an unsaturated heterocyclic lactone with the molecular weight of 154.12g/mol and low volatility (Walravens et al., 2014; Vidal et al., 2019). The strain determines significantly the amount of patulin produced. Patulin causes animals to have immunotoxic and neutrotoxic effects and there is no clear evidence that is carcinogenic to human (Romero Bernal et al., 2019).

Patulin is found in fruits and vegetables, especially apples and apple derived products in various parts of the world, and occassionally in other fruits such as pears, orange, grapes and their products (Chandra et al., 2017; Wei et al., 2017), if rotten fruits, especially apples, are not removed during the processing of fruit juices, patulin is transferred to juices (Romero Bernal et al., 2019). Patulin was initially studied as a potential antibiotic, but subsequent research demostrated its toxicological properities to humans including nausea, vomiting, ulceration and hemorrhage (Birkinshaw et al., 1943; Alshannaq and Yu, 2017). The optinum temperature for the production of patulin is 24 and 0.99 (Tannous et al., 2016).

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Patulin

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

2.7. CITRININ

Citrinin is a secondary metabolite originally isolated in 1931 by Hetherington and Raistrick from a culture of Penicillium citrinum (EFSA, 2012; Ostry et al., 2013. The toxin is a derivative of benzopyran produced by some species of Aspergillus and Penicillium especially Penicillium citrinum (Milani, 2013). Citrinin is generally formed after harvest and can be found mainly in stored grains, particularly barley, wheat and rice, but also in other plant products, such as beans, fruit and vegetable juices, herbs and spices, and also in spoiled dairy products (JH, 2015). Citrinin is a nephrotoxic mycotoxin which co-occurs in food entities, resulting in internal revelation (Ali et al., 2018). It can affect the kidney and cause severe renal failure (Degen et al., 2018). Citrinin may form at the optinum temeprature of 20-30 and 0.75-0.85 (Milani, 2013).

Fig 1: Chemical structure of Citrinin

Source: Zahra et al., 2019

CHAPTER THREE: ECONOMIC IMPACT ON MYCOTOXIN

The consumption of contaminated food globally accentuates a direct threat to food security, and the key elements contributing to contamination are micororganisms, specifically, fungi which produce mycotoxin. Approximately, 25% of the world’s food and feed supply is contaminated with mycotoxin, which has a negative effect on human and animal health, productivity, livlihood, household security, income and substantial economic loss (Enyiwkwu et al., 2014). The most significant effect of contamination with mycotoxins in Africa has been shown on human health (Marechera and Ndwiga, 2014). Although it is ectrremely difficult to estimate in Africa, the net monetarized effect of mycotoxin on human in Africa (including physical pain, death (in severe cases), temporary or permanent disability, loss of productivity, diagnostic costs, treatment, hospitalization and health care, pain, stress and reduced quality of life) may be enormous and demanding on national budget. In Senegal, a case in point, the cummulation health related costs of Aflatoxins (Afs) are estimated at no less than 12 million US$ of the nation’s GDP (ECOACAP, 2014). Also, mycotoxin affects the livestock industry. It makes anuimal prone to disease by weakening their response to immune system and vaccination against disease. In other ways, it can cause productivity loss in the dairy cow industry, particularly in the case of aflatoxins, additional losses involve the clearance time that farmers have to wait to allow animals to excrete all from their system (Marroquin et al., 2014).

Contamination can lead to direct econmic impact from importers through limited yeilds, price discounts, restricted end markets and export rejections. Microbial contamination has an adverse economic impact in reducing food and fiber crops yield, and food contamination with mycotoxin result in huge and universal economic crisis (USDA, 2006; Geremew, 2015).mycotoxin affect African agricultural trade name. Brand is am intangible feature that distinguishes an entity from its compeitiors, and comprises of expectations, imagination and loyalty to customers. In the field of accouting, brand is regarded as the most valuable asset on the balance sheet (Sharma, 2014; Soler Labajos and Jumenez-Zarco, 2016). The damage caused by mycotoxin to the brand can have a significant impact on business performance, productivity and business prospects. Unfortunately, mycotoxin has cause signioficant damage to Afircan food and agricultural trade brand, particularly in the export market. Some of the effect can be observed in the lack of trust for African feed or food resources, rejection and redundant scrutiny (which may lead to delay in transaction and perhaps more food spoilage). Between 2007 and 2012, thirteen consignments of groundnt and ground nut related products from Nigeria were rejecyted by (EU) European Union (Atanda et al., 2013). The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) of Nigeria reported that up to 42 semi - processed an processed food products of Nigeria origin destined for the European Union rejected in 2015 and 2016 for failing to meet the required standards (Ogunfuwa, 2018). Some of the items were destroyed, subjected to official detention, withdrawn from consumers from the market and re-dispatched. It should be noted that the cost of rejected food shipment is significant to about 10,000US$ per lot (Ogunfuwa, 2018).

3.1. HEALTH IMPLICATION OF MYCOTOXIN

Mycotoxin cause diseases in human and animals called mycotoxicosis and its severity depends on the rate of toxicity (Peraica et al., 1999). Mycotoxin is heat stable and endangers human health, animal production and economy of the country. Aflatoxins are acutely toxic, immunosuppressive, mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic compounds (Blanchard and Manderville, 2016). Aflatoxin has carcinogenic, hepatogenic and mutagenic effects on human health when ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin, even at very low concentration (Zain, 2011; Wei et al., 2014). Aflatoxin causes aflatoxicosis that occurred in 1981, 2001, 2004 and 2005 in Kenya (Africa). is a potent mycotoxin and it is known to be hepatotoxic and hepatocarcinogenic (Geremew, 2015). The exposure of in conjuction with a low protein diet cause a decrease in the weight gain and kidney dyfunction in rats (Rotimi et al., 2018). Animal production is significantly reduced in countries with chronic aflatoxin contamination thus, minimizing the dietary protein and milk quality. In most African countries, poor knowledge about afaltoxin, adequate control measures to control contamination in field and storage, and the negative health effects of aflatoxin consumption are reported (Antonio et al., 2018). Additional factors on health impact are prevalent poverty and malnutrition (Kristine and Florian, 2018).

Fumonisin has been linked to esophagus cancer in human, although it affects animals in which it causes leukoencephalomalacia in equines and rabbits, pulmonary edema, hepatoxicity and nephrotoxicity. Ochratoxin causes neopropathy in humans; it is also the cause of Tunisian neopropathy and human (BEN) Balcan endemic neophropathy (Margherita et al., 2012). Ochratoxin A is carcinogenic and can cause upper urinary tract disease (Blanchard and Manderville, 2016). It is known for its teratogenic effects on the foetus in the womb, which possessess the ability to cross the placenta and cause malformation of the central nervous system and damage to the brain in rats (Malir et al., 2012). Deoxynivalenol causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, reproductive effects and toxicosis in human (Ali et al., 2013; Pinton and Oswald, 2014). Citrinin cause nephrotoxicity (Ali et al., 2018). It may affect kidneys and can cause severe renal failure (Degen et al., 2018). Patulin can be carcinogenic, immunotoxic and genotoxic on mammalian cells (Zain, 2011). Zearalenone can cause hormonal imbalance, reproductive effect and carcinogenicity when present in large quantities (Reddy et al., 2010; Blanchard and Manderville, 2016).

CHAPTER FOUR: DECONTAMINATION METHODS

Reducing mycotoxin contamination in agricultural commodities in many countries around the world is a very important problem which has led to various preventive measures (Ayofemi, 2019). All pre harvest strategies aim to prevent the development of toxigenic fungi and, hence, mycotoxins. However, once mycotoxins are produced, food contamination should be based on post harvest practices (Luo et al., 2018). The decontamination of mycotoxins from different agricultural product is a global issue, both scientific and practical. Mycotoxins have been shown to be eliminated by natural means such as thermal insulation, radiation treatment, and low plasma temperature, chemical methods such as oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis and absorption, and the biological methods with the use of biological agents (Lyagin and Efremenko, 2019). Physical and chemical decontamination has many limitation; they cause loss of nutrients, and are time consuming and ineffective, and require expensive equipment. In comparison, biological methods proved to be more effective, more specialized and more environmentally friendly (Wang et al., 2019).

4.1. PHYSICAL APPROACH

Diverse practices are naturally used to remove mycotoxin. Some of them are grading, sorting and removal of the obviously affected parts of a lot. In additon, as physical treatments for decontamination of mycotoxins, drying, washing, cleaning, segregation, milling, boiling, roasting, radiation, extrusion, microwave heating and peeling are used (Sarrocco and Vannacci, 2018; Shi et al., 2018).

4.1.1. Sorting

Unprocessed cereals often contain dust and admixtures in bulk trade. Broken and damaged kernels usually contain most of the contamination of mycotoxin even though they constitiute 3-6% of the bulk load (Karlovsky et al., 2016). After harvest, the first processing of agricutlural goods often involves sorting, washing or milling (Grenier et al., 2014). Undoubtedly, cleaning and sorting constitute the first step of natural disinfection. Techniques such as sorting may be regarded as superior method, since they do not pose a risk of degrading productrs (Chilaka et al., 2017). Sorting and removal of decayed and poor quality fruits can significantly reduce the patulin level or content in fruits products by up to 99% (Luo et al., 2018). Total FBs decreased by 26% to 69% in maize after purification (Chilaka et al., 2017). A decrease of 27% to 93% FB was observed after the sorting of contaminated miaze. Infection with aflatoxin is usually heterogenous, thus the separation of damaged nuclei can effectively reduce infection. Ultraviolet radiation was also used to reduce Afs in the sorting of cereal (Karlovsky et al., 2016).

4.1.2. Storage

Storage conditions play an important role in controlling mycotoxin, since they affect the overall growth of fungi. In particular, two main fcators, temperature and high humidity, may promote both fungal growth and mycotoxin production (Agriopoulou et al., 2020). Storage under controlled conditions, such as packaging practices, temperature control, ventilation and adequate humidity of the air, reduces fungal growth and mycotoxin accumulation (Goncalves et al., 2019). In developing countries, crop losses of 20% to 50% were recorded due to inadequate storage prcatices (Neme and Mohammed, 2017).

4.1.3. Thermal processing

In general, mycotoxins are mainly stable compounds under thermal process condiitons which are most commonly used in the prodction of food and feed. The folowing trhermal processing factors are most important for thr degradation and reduction of mycotoxin in food and feed; type of mycotoxin, initial concentration of mycotoxin, temperature, degree of heat penetration, pH, and moisture content (Colovic et al., 2019). If raw materials are contamianted with some regulated and/or non regulated mycotoxin there is a great possibilty that these mycotoxin will also be contaminated in final products as they are not completely destroyed during the thermal process (Neme and Mohammed, 2017; Colovic et al., 2019). Different thermal food and feed treatment processes that can have different impact on mycotoxin include extrusion, cooking, frying, baking, canning, crumbling, pelleting, roasting, flaking etc. Even though these processes can significantly reduce the mycotoxin concentration, their implementation usually does not lead to complete elimination of mycotoxin. Among the thermal tretaments, the utilization of high temperature processes demostrated the greatest potential for reduction of mycotoxin (Colovic et al., 2019).

A study in Kenya has shown a decrease in AFs in maize by peeling. The final flour was less contamainated, although mycotoxin DON and ZEN were detected on the surface of the granules at high levels. Temperature and time may affect the final product of mycotoxin content (Agriopoulou et al., 2020). During the extrusion process, the processing temperature and the moisture content of the granules affect the reduction fof AFs by 50% to 80% (Shanakhat et al., 2018). In addition, temperature of 150-200 significantly reduced AFB, resulting in an average reduction of 79%, being more efficient at high humdity (Rushing and Selim, 2019).

4.1.4. Cold plasma

Cold plasma has strong antimicrobial effects, and it is used to eliminate pathogens in food processing (Shanakhat et al., 2018). A review on the use of plasma in food processing highlighted the potential of this new technique, which requires cautious use at the same time. No research on potential plasma treatment for the formation of toxic compounds has yet been conducted (Schluter et al., 2013). Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) technology is a different for mycotoxin decontamination that is of low cost and environemtally friendly (Shanakhat et al., 2018; Wielogorska et al., 2019). Low pressure cold plasma on nut surface has destroyed up to 50% of aflatoxin (Basaran et al., 2008). The effect of argon cold plasma atmospheric pressure on spores and the production of Aspergillus niger contaminating date palm fruits with mycotoxin was evaluated (Ouf et al., 2015). After only 10 minutes of treatment, substantial reduction of and mycotoxin of up to 66% was achieved in maize using CAPP (Wielogorska et al., 2019). The use of cold atmospheric plasma caused 93% reduction in AFs, 90% reduction in trichothecenes (TC), 100% reduction in ZEA and 93% reduction in fusoproliferin (FUS) after 8 minutes of exposure (Hojnik et al., 2019).

4.1.5. Radiation

Radiation can be an industrial scale approach for removing mycotoxin, providing energy to both food constituents and contaminants: reactions occur and the molecular structure of food constituent changes. Non ionizing radiation and ionizing radiation can reduce or eliminate pathogenic microorgnaisms; but partially removes mycotoxin in food (Karlovsky et al., 2016; Shanakhat et al., 2018). In irradiated distilled water and fruit juices of orange, pineapple and tomato infected with ZEA, ZEA toxcity was reduced. ZEA radiation was safe up to an irradiation of 10kGy. A higher dose of radiation affected the quality of the fruit juices (Kalagatur et al., 2018). In a recent strudy, after irradiation at 50kGy with an electron beam in naturally infected corn to degrade zen and OTA, decreases of 71.1% and 67.9% were recorded (Luo et al., 2018). In additon, was reduced by more than 75% (at 6kGy) when gamma irradiation was used for rice processing (Goncalves et al., 2019). Apple juice irradiation for 5 mimnutes caused PAT (83%) to decrease significantly (Walravens et al., 2014). While radiation has been proposed as a promising approach to mycotoxin decontamination, its effectiveness remains questionable because after potential molecular reaction, it can cause physical, chemical and biological effects (Shi et al., 2018).

4.1.6. Mycotoxin binder

Mycotoxin binders are physical techniques used to decontaminate feed, which can be used for human intervention (Jans et al., 2014). Mycotoxin binder inhibits mycotoxin absorption because they bind to mycotoxin and don not allow mycotoxins to enter the bloodstream from the gut. The use of binding mycotoxin is an alternative physical technique to the microbial degradation of AFs. Lactone ring cleavage is a possible target of microbial enzymes, and its cleavage decreases the toxicity of AFs (Gonzalez-Pereyra et al., 2019). According to the research, activated carbon was used to remove patulin from naturally infected milk. There has been a reduction in mycotoxin levels but more studies are needed to ensure food safety (Karlovsky et al., 2016).

4.2. CHEMICAL APPROACH

Given that all the positive sides of the chemical treatments available to decontaminate mycotoxin contaminated feedstuffs and compound feed, their drawbacks are also present, as the products handled must be safe from the chemicals used and the nutritional value of the products should not be altered or degraded (Awad et al., 2010; Colovoic et al., 2019). Not all agents are efficient to the same degrree against mycotoxins, but science is still making efforts to find a wide variety of chemicals that will be effective against a greater number of mycotoxins on a higher scale (Puvaca et al., 2018). There are now several chemical agents used for mycotoxin decontaminationand can be classified into groups including alkaline or bases, acids, reducing agents, oxidizing agents and many others such as chlorinating agents, salt and miscellaneous reagents (Colovoic et al., 2019).

4.2.1. Bases

Ammonia gas treatment of cereals is known as the ammonia process, which has gained significant interest in the docontamination of aflatoxin, fumonisins and ochratoxin, and has been used in many countries for decontamination (Puvaca et al., 2018). However, the efficacy of ammoniation varies on the type of mycotoxin. Nevertheless, treatment with base is forbidden in the EU for food intended for human consumption. The efficacy of applied to laboratory animals for the purpose of lowering fumonisin concentrations showed no promising results since there was no decrease in toxicity when ammonia was supplied to livestock despite a decrease in concentration. In the last several years in devoped countries, ammoniation has been successfully used in maize grain decontamination in particular, to reduce the amount off contamination of aflatoxin in feed (Jalili, 2016; Karlvosky et al., 2016). Ammonization is typically the most effcetive against, with , the remaining side product, which is much less toxic than . Furthermore, the positive effects of ammonia in feed and compund feed detoxification may be comapred with high costy of methodology applied, and the ineffectiveness of method against other myciotoxin. However, this method can lead to reduction and degradation of food quality due to excessive levels of ammonia in the food (Negash, 2019). Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are often used in contaminated oil to degrade , although these chemicals can cause secondary contamination and harm the nutritional value of the products (Ji and Xie, 2020). The application of mixture of glycerol and calcium hydroxide has greatly contributed to the detoxification of mycotoxin (Luo et al., 2018).

4.2.2. Acid

Feedstuffs and compund feed treatment with strong acids may disrupt the biological activiity of , thus, converting into a compund that is hemiacetal or hemiketal compounds the result of adding an alcohol to an aldehyde or ketone, produced by adding a second alkoxy group to the structure respectively (Luo et al., 2014). Hydrogen chloride (HCl) treatment at pH 2 showed a 19.3% reduction in concentration 0of within 24 hours. Fromic, propionic and sorbic acids show their positive influenece when it comes to ochratoxinA degration with concentrations ranging from 0.25% to 1.0% after the exposure to this particular acid over a period of time that is no longer 24 hours. Sodium hypochlorite may be successfully used as a pale greenish- yellow dilute solution commonly known as liquid bleach or simply bleach in the destruction of ochratoxin A (Colovoic et al., 2019).

4.2.3. Reducing agent

Reducing agents such as sodium bisulfite have the affinity to react with aflatoxin and trichothecenes. Their mechanism of action involves the formation of sulphonate derivatives while peroxide and heat enhance sodium bisulfite destruction of (Hasan and Walshi, 2016). In addition to and trichothecenes, the DON levels have decreased with reducing agents. The conversion of sodium bisulfite from DON to DON-sulphonate, which is less toxic than DON, has been recorded as an effective method for overcoming the depressive effects of DON on the ingestion of feed in certain species and categories of farm animals. Temperature at 65 for 48 hours can block the primary amino group of and prevent the toxicity of farm and laboratory animal cell tissue cultures caused by the presence of fumonisin in feed, but only in the presence of D- gluocose or D- fructose reduction in sugar (Weltmann and von Woedtke, 2017).

4.2.4. Oxidizing agent

Oxidizing agents such as zone and hydrogen peroxide have been used to decontaminate raw feed, and compound feed infected with mycotoxin (Weltmann and von Woedtke, 2017). Over the years, ozone treatment has been used to decontaminate food products with vaet high success in addition to feed and compound feed. Many of the above mentioned chemical methods could be used to reduce mycotoxin levels with a high percentage of efficacy in feed and compound food, but it should not be overlooked that such chemicals should potentially cause changes in the nutrionally, physical and sensory properities of treated materials (Scholtz et al., 2015). Protection against in poultry has been demostrated in research where chemically oxidizing agent has been shown to react with a wide variety of different functional groups, where infected corn has been treated with electochemically produced effect of the zone when a contaimianted cereal was treated with ochratoxin A (Machala et al., 2010; Colovoic et al., 2019). Ozonation is a simple technology that does not leave harmful residues after application (Li et al., 2015). Ozone gas has been active in degrading aflatoxin, especially and , because there is a C8-C9 double bond in their structures. in particular has proven the most sensitive (Agriopoulou et al., 2020). Ozone is capable of reducing mycotoxin toxicity and of enhancing microbiological status. A degradation of 84% was recorded, when 10% of hydrogen perioxide () was used to decontaminate contaminated grains of ZEN at a temeprature of 80 during a period of 16 hours. The high degree of contamination of feedstuffs by these microorganisms have resulted in substantial losses for enterprises as these microorganisms generate mycotoxins on a large scale, in addition to the decay of raw materials. By their secondary metabolism, Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus niger produce ochratoxinA (De saeger and Logrieco, 2017).

Ozone treatment under optimal conditions (55g for 6 hours) showed a significant decrease in DON (29%-32%) and its modified form DON-3-glucoside (DON-3-Glc) (44%). Moreover, significant microbial decline in durum wheat was observed, leaving chemical and rheological properities of semolina and pasta from ozonated wheat unaffected (Piemontese et al., 2018). After treatment with gaseous ozone, DON was converted into 10 ozonised products. The rate of DON degradation was positively correlated with the concentration of ozone and the time for treatment. Specifically, the rate of degradation of DON in solution reached 54.2%, for a treatment time of 30 seconds and 1mg.ozone concentration. Degradation of DON was significantly influenced by the mosture content of the granules. The degradation rate of DON was 57.3% when ozone contaminations of 60mg.were applied for 12 hours in wheat with a mositure content of 17.0% (Li et al., 2015).

4.3. BIOLOGICAL APPROACH

Several researches from groups with different background and research experience have made great accomplishments in search for biological agents for detoxification of mycotoxins in the last 20 years (Hassan and Zhou, 2018). Biological method based on the ability to remove or degrade mycotoxins in food and feeds product by micoorganism such as bacteria, fungi and yeast (Xia et al., 2017; Ben Taheur et al., 2019). The use of pure microbial strains contributed significantly to the disinfectiom of in vitro mycotoxins.in additon, the effcetiveness in reducing and eliminating mycotoxins has also been demostrated (Sarrocco and Vannaci, 2018). The methods are based on biological transformation, enzymatic degradation or modification to less toxic substances by mycotoxin. Mycotoxin can thus be hydrolyzed, deaminated or decarboxylated, acetylated, glucosylated, cleaved at their rings (Hathout and Aly, 2014).

4.3.1. Bacteria

Some bacteria are capable of binding mycotoxins in foods or liquids (Ben Taheur et al., 2019). Degradation in afaltoxin in laboratory conditions has been investigated in many cases over the years, but there is currently no biological system to be used for the entire commerial sphere (Afsharmanesh et al., 2018; Xia et al., 2017). Interesting results were obtained for application of Norcadia corynebacterium. This soil bacterium should remove aflatoxin B, G and from a variety of food products, including milk, oil, peanut butter, peanut and maize with no toxic by-products left. It has been showed to be effective when removing irreversibly from aflatoxin-contamianted compound feed for broiler chicken nutrition (Colovoic et al., 2019). detoxification through Enterococcus faecium is achieved by binding to the bacterium’s cell wall component. Polysaccharides and peptidoglycan of bacterial cell walls were shown to be responsible for binding mycotoxins with microorganisms (Umesha et al., 2017). In addition, DON mycotoxin bacterial detoxification has evolved due to research efforts and advances. Aerobic oxidation and partitioning of this mycotoxin into C-3 carbon carried by Devosia’s multiple species provides solutions designed to reduce contamiantion with DON (Hassan and Zhou, 2018). For aqueous solutions, lactic acid bacteria; Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus reuteri has proven effective for binding to AFs. Lactobacillus amylovorus and Lactobacillus rhamnosus in other in vitro tests presented a binding efficiency of up to 60%, demonstrating their ability for binding selected dietary contaminants (Kagot et al., 2019). During fermentation of whole- grain sorghum with Lactobacillus fermentum, reduction of 98% and 84% T-2 were also demostrated (Adebo et al., 2019).

4.3.2. Yeast and Fungi

The ability to degrade various mycotoxins ahs been demostrated by the fungal species Aspergillus, Alternaria, Absidia, Armillariella, Candida, Mucor, Trichoderma, Penicillium, Peniophora, Clonostachys and Rhizopus (Adebo et al., 2015; Alberts et al., 2017). It is of particular interest to use competing yeasts, as the yeasts produce antimicrobial compunds with beneficial impact on human and animals, while on manysubstrates in bioreactors they may develop rapidly. Moreover, unlike many filamentous fungi or bacterial antagonist, yeasts do not produce other secondary metabolites or allergens (Farbo et al., 2018; Tilocca et al., 2019). Saccharomyces cerevisiae is probiotic yeast that can significantly degrade DON and decrease the rate of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in cells stimulated with DON (Liu et al., 2019). The use of non toxic strains of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus on maize, cotton, pistachio and peanuts yielded remarkable success in reducing the contaminatation of aflatoxin. Regarding the fungi and their detoxification, it was reported that they could also be broken down by fungi capable of producing aflatoxins. This is because these fungi may also degrade and probably convert and use degradation producrs as an energy source under starvation condition (Kagot et al., 2017). Low concentration of mycotoxin and OTA in chicken diets can be reduced with the addition of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell walls (Mendieta et al., 2018). The effectiveness of mycotoxin reduction in patulin by Saccharomyces cerevisiaein fermented foods by increasing fermentation time and temperature was investigated. The yeast cells can remove PAT through physical adsorption. The cell wall O-N/N-H protein and polysaccharide bond interact with PAT, Kluyveromyces marxianus for the binding of mycotoxin , OTA and ZEA (Zhang et al., 2019).

The result indicated that mycotoxin can bind to the cell membrane, especially Candida utilis (Jakopovic et al., 2018). In another study, the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica decreased OTA concentration to about half the initial level introduced into the culture (Yang et al., 2016). In Africa, competiton is based on the biocontrol of AFs in miaze containing non toxigenic micorbial strains. Specifically, large amount of non toxic of A. flavus and A. parasiticus enter the soil around the crops amd compete with toxigenic strains (Sarrocco et al., 2019).

4.3.3. Food fermentation

Fermentation of foods increases their quality while granting consumers highly desirable properities. Fermentation is a fairly inexpensive approach to mycotoxin disinfection that can be used to improve food additives, as well as to reduce and even remove mycotoxins (Agriopoulou et al., 2020). Fermentation may be an alternative and desirable technique to reduce mycotoxins compared to costly amd impractical techniques, the nature of metabolites and the toxicity of products produced after fermentation should be carefully documented in order to produce safe foods (Sarrocco et al., 2019).

4.4. USE OF ENZYME

Specific enzymes such as oxidase, peroxidase, laccase, esterase, carboxylesterase, aminotransferase, lactono hydrolase having the ability of degrading mycotoxins have been purified from microbial systems. The enzymatic detoxifcation of mycotoxin combines bot chemical and biological processing characteristics. It has high performance and specialization with application under mild conditions, and it does not cause toxicity to organism. Enzymes are involved in non- stoichiometric mycotoxin ratios as catalysts (Lyagin and Efremenko, 2017). Some species of Aspergillus may produce an enzyme that can naturally detoxify fumonisin includig those produced by Fusarium. The activity of enzymes such as -1.3-glucanase and chitinase against pathogens can differ depending on the microorganism’s charcateristics the delay and decrease in growth of fruit spoilage fungi are affected by the application of -1.3-glucanase and chitinase (Cence et al., 2019). Inhibition of Penicillium simplicissimum, A. niger complex, Penicillium nalgiovense and A. flavus growth on salami surface samples was induced by spraying - glucanase at 50% and chitinase at 50% and 40% concentrations. Thus, - glucanase and chitinase may be safe alernative for the feremnted sausage industry to control fungal spoilage (Cence at al., 2019).microbial maganese peroxide, oxidase, catalase and laccase enzymes were used for enzyme detoxification of , (Shanakhat et al., 2018; Sarrocco et al., 2019). However, enzymes have an unexplored profile when detoxifying food contaminants due to their favourable toxicology and specialization. In the EU, no enzyme is approved for the removal of mycotoxin contamination from feedstuff (Shanakhat et al., 2018).

4.5. CURRENT TREND IN DECONTAMINATION OF MYCOTOXIN

4.5.1. Nanoparticles

Adsorption plays important role in the decontamination of mycotoxin. Several papers have proposed nanoparticles as an effective decontamination alternative through adsorbent phenomenon. Mycotoxin shows a structural diversity resulting in different chemical and physical properties. Mycotoxins can be classified as polar or non polar molecules, however, there are several that fall in beween. AFLs and FUMs are highly polar, while trichothecenes are polar and ZEA are non polar (IARC, 2012; Stroka and Maragos, 2016). Compared to copper and silver nanoparticles, metallic nanoparticles such as iron have a strong capacity to adsorb (13-139ng/mg) (Asghar et al., 2018). Magnetic carbon nanocomposites have been used to detoxify , chitosan coated nanoparticles were reported to decontaminate PAT, and silver nanoparticles has been reported to degrade Fusarium spp. and their main associated mycotoxins (Luo et al., 2018; Tarazona et al., 2019). Using graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites allow mycotoxin level (FB, ZEA and DON) to be reduced, with efficiencies ranging from 37% to 69% at pH 6.2 for 5.2 h at 40.6 (Pirouz et al., 2017). Carbon nanotubes can act as adsorbents by reducing mycotoxin toxicity especially non polar ones such as ZEA (Gao et al., 2015). Surface active maghemite nanoparticles (SAMNs) constitute of stoichiometric maghemite (-) showed chelating properities of citrinin and OTA toward iron (III) presence (Magro et al.,2016). Monascus suspensions were treated with 1g SAMNs, resulting in the first removal of 70%of citrinin. A second treatment removed citrinin below the analytical detection limits (0.25mg). SAMNs represent an ideal material, as their synthetic protoxol is suitable for being scaled up to an individual level and is carried out in water without any organic solvent (Magro et al., 2016).

According to the recent research.a new photocatalyst nanaoparticle UCNP@Ti (upconversion nanoparticle) has been synthesized, and used to degrade DON. The results showed a decrease in grain products below the permissible limits (1 ppm) after 90 minutes and total degradation after 120 minutes of illumination. The UCNP@Ti composite material was efficient and green, and the degradation products were only slightly toxic or even non toxic. Thus, the degradation technology can be used for mycotoxin decontamination (Zhou et al., 2020). Removal of up to 80% of mycotoxins from nanocomposite makes up mixtures of activated carbon, bentonite and aluminium (Gonzalez- jartin et al., 2019).

4.5.2. Medicinal Plant extract

Decontamination method based on medicicnal plants are attractive because they are generally cheaper, considered safe to human and more enviornmentally friendly than chemical treatment, different essential oils (EOs) and their main bioactive compunds has been used for the antifungal and antimycotoxigenic properities (Sanzani et al., 2016; Chaudhari et al., 2019) and some mycotoxins have been shown to inhibit the production (Piemontese et al., 2018). Several researchers reported that the oil of clove and its major ingredient, eugenol, as well as the tumeric essential oil, inhibit Aspergillus growth and production. The growth of Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium citrinum and their toxins were inhibited by the application of whole clove in culture media and rice grains (Aiko and Mehta, 2015; Luo et al., 2018). Essential oils such as lemon, grape fruits, eucalyptus and palmarosa oils influence the effectiveness of ZEA toxin level reduction; it was concluded that tested essential oils were effective in decontamination of ZEA (Luo et al., 2018).

A recent scientific study showed the effect of Spanish paprika smoker ‘’Pimenton de la Vera’’ on the development of Aspergillus parasiticus and Penicillium nordicum and the production of , and OTA. The addition of 2%-3% Spanish paprika smoker in meat products such as fillets or sausage preparations has helped reduce the growth and production of AF and OTA mycotoxins (Sanchez-Montero et al., 2019). In additom, capsaian, a natural compound, inhibited the production of OTA in grapes from 28.9% to78.1% by Aspergillus section Nigri strains, and by Aspergillus carbonarius of 61.5% (Kollia et al., 2019).

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Contamination of food with mycotoxin poses a serious threat to both human and animal health and global economy. Mycotoxin decontamination beame manfatory after their harmful effect on human and animal health were charcaterized and identified. It can be achived using the physical, chemical and biological approaches. Decontamination by nanoparticles is a new approach, which are effective for the removal of mycotoxin. The use of media to create public awareness is a good strategy to enlighten and reduce mycotoxin contamination. Countries should have thir own national policies to save public health from toxic outcomes.

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