What is Aflatoxin
Aflatoxin is a natural fungal toxin that is from Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, and Aspergillus nomius. originate These fungi usually infect corn, peanuts, and pistachios easily while wheat, barley, and rice are usually more resistant. Aflatoxins infect humans through contaminated food such as eggs, milk, and dairy products and can be carcinogenic. In 1985, the Food and Drug Administration (USA) determined the amount of mitotoxin allowed in food.
Species
There are more than 20 types of aflatoxin. But its four main types include G1, B2, B1 and G2. Aflatoxins M2 and M1 are metabolites resulting from the hydroxylation of aflatoxins B2 and B1, respectively. Aflatoxins M1 and M2 were isolated for the first time from the milk of animals fed with contaminated feed. The degree of toxicity of aflatoxins is as follows: B1>G1>B2>G2.
pathogenicity
If the fungi that produce these toxins grow on animal feed and food (such as pistachios, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and wheat), consuming foods contaminated with aflatoxin can cause disease in humans or animals. No living organism is safe from this toxin. is not. These toxins can cause tissue necrosis, cirrhosis, liver cancer and stomach cancer.
The primary clinical symptoms of aflatoxin-induced liver poisoning include fever, muscle pain, and anorexia, followed by vomiting, abdominal pain, and hepatitis. Aflatoxin with a concentration of 10 μg/kg has an acute liver poisoning effect. However, acute poisoning is rare and exceptional. Much lower amounts and especially continuous consumption of aflatoxin also causes hepatotoxicity. Acute liver lesions such as fatty changes, pulmonary edema, muscle tremors, coma, convulsions and death are accompanied by brain edema and involvement of organs such as liver, kidney and heart. Aflatoxin B1 is a mutagenic teratogenic agent and one of the strongest carcinogenic compounds.
prevention
The best way to prevent it is to avoid eating food contaminated with aflatoxin. Pistachios are easily contaminated with aflatoxin. Avoid eating pistachios with bitter taste or high moisture content. Also, pistachio kernels are more likely to be contaminated than pistachios with skin.
Not using products suspected to contain aflatoxin can help prevent the risks caused by this poison.
Roasting pistachios at temperatures of 90, 120 and 150 degrees Celsius for 30, 60 and 120 minutes reduces the level of aflatoxin by 17-63%. Additionally, alkaline cooking and soaking corn to make tortillas reduces aflatoxin levels by 52%.
in dairy
The main derivative of aflatoxin in milk is known as “aflatoxin M1” and although it is weaker than type B1, the pathogenic power of both is the same. In industrial animal husbandry, a large part of animal feed comes from processed food such as corn. Aflatoxin B1, after entering the animal’s digestive tract, is absorbed through feed and is transformed into aflatoxin M1 in the animal’s liver and enters the mammary glands and milk through the blood.
Aflatoxin is resistant to heat and does not destroy at temperatures of 237 to 306 degrees Celsius; Therefore, pasteurization of milk cannot be effective against aflatoxin M1. Avasti and colleagues reported in 2012 that neither pasteurization nor boiling of milk reduced aflatoxin M1 levels.
In many countries of the world, such as the European Union, the maximum allowed contamination of aflatoxin M1 is 0.05 micrograms per kilo of milk and 0.025 micrograms per kilo of milk powder.