Harmful Effects of Aflatoxin
Food and feed contamination by mycotoxins (toxic substance produced by fungi) has become a grave problem to food manufacturers. Among various types of mycotoxin fungi aflatoxins (AFs) are being regarded as highly toxic and harmful. What is aflatoxin? Aflatoxin is a toxic substance produced by certain fungi found on agricultural crops such as wheat, cereal grains, corn, peanuts, cottonseed, tree nuts, dried fruit, and some spices such as chili and paprika. They produce this substance during metabolism. There is a range of aflatoxin named as B1, B2, G1, G2, M1 AND M2 . Which fungi produces aflatoxin? The main fungi that produce aflatoxins are Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus , which are abundant in warm and humid regions. Aflatoxin-producing fungi can contaminate crops mainly in the field, at harvest or during storage. How are people exposed to aflatoxin? They can be exposed to aflatoxins by eating contaminated food (corn, peanut, cereal etc.) ...
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