Novel Strategy to Combat Aflatoxin M_1 Menace in Dairy Industry

摘要

Food quality and safety are of great concern to avoid economic losses and adverse health effects. Harmful components of microbial origin may be produced due to mishandling during storage. Toxin producing fungi are ubiquitous in the environment and among these, aflatoxins producers viz., Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus have been recognized as major contaminants of foods. Aspergillus flavus was identified as a toxin-producing fungus in the year 1961 and the toxin derived was given the name "Aflatoxin" by virtue of its origin {A. flavis, Afla). These are secondary metabolites which do not have role in the normal metabolism of the fungus (Reddy et al, 2008). Aflatoxins have been associated with various diseases worldwide, such as aflatoxicosis in livestock, domestic animals and humans (Williams et al, 2004). They have received greater attention as compared to any other mycotoxins because of their well-established potent carcinogenic effect in susceptible laboratory animals and acute toxicological effects in humans. Till date, 18 different types of aflatoxins have been identified and among them, aflatoxin B2, G, and G2 are key members. Aflatoxin Mt and M2 are major metabolites of aflatoxin Bj and B2, respectively, found in milk of animals fed on feed contaminated with aflatoxins. Aflatoxin M has been identified as a Group 1 carcinogen (Khoury et al, 2011). Codex Alimentarius have fixed the maximum limit of aflatoxin Mj in milk and milk products i.e. 0.5 ppb.