Human Breast Milk Contamination with Aflatoxins, Impact on Children's Health, and Possible Control Means: A Review.

Aflatoxins are natural toxicants produced mainly by species of the genus, which contaminate virtually all feeds and foods. Apart from their deleterious health effects on humans and animals, they can be secreted unmodified or carried over into the milk of lactating females, thereby posing health risks to suckling babies. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the major and most toxic aflatoxin type after aflatoxin B1 (AFB1).

Occurrence and Health Risk Assessment of Aflatoxins through Intake of Eastern Herbal Medicines Collected from Four Districts of Southern Punjab-Pakistan.

Eastern herbal medicines (HMs) are plant-derived naturally occurring substances with minimum or no industrial processing that have long been used in traditional medicine. Aflatoxins are frequent contaminants of plants. Therefore, these mycotoxins are likely to contaminate HMs and pose a health risk to individuals using them on a regular basis as preventive or curative treatments of various diseases.

Aflatoxins: Producing-Molds, Structure, Health Issues and Incidence in Southeast Asian and Sub-Saharan African Countries.

This review aims to update the main aspects of aflatoxin production, occurrence and incidence in selected countries, and associated aflatoxicosis outbreaks. Means to reduce aflatoxin incidence in crops were also presented, with an emphasis on the environmentally-friendly technology using atoxigenic strains of . Aflatoxins are unavoidable widespread natural contaminants of foods and feeds with serious impacts on health, agricultural and livestock productivity, and food safety.

Chronic and Acute Toxicities of Aflatoxins: Mechanisms of Action.

There are presently more than 18 known aflatoxins most of which have been insufficiently studied for their incidence, health-risk, and mechanisms of toxicity to allow effective intervention and control means that would significantly and sustainably reduce their incidence and adverse effects on health and economy. Among these, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) has been by far the most studied; yet, many aspects of the range and mechanisms of the diseases it causes remain to be elucidated. Its mutagenicity, tumorigenicity, and carcinogenicity-which are the best known-still suffer from limitations regarding the relative contribution of the oxidative stress and the reactive epoxide derivative (Aflatoxin-exo 8,9-epoxide) in the induction of the diseases, as well as its metabolic and synthesis pathways.

Retrospective and Prospective Look at Aflatoxin Research and Development from a Practical Standpoint.

Among the array of structurally and toxicologically diverse mycotoxins, aflatoxins have attracted the most interest of scientific research due to their high toxicity and incidence in foods and feeds. Despite the undeniable progress made in various aspects related to aflatoxins, the ultimate goal consisting of reducing the associated public health risks worldwide is far from being reached due to multiplicity of social, political, economic, geographic, climatic, and development factors. However, a reasonable degree of health protection is attained in industrialized countries owing to their scientific, administrative, and financial capacities allowing them to use high-tech agricultural management systems.

Barley protein concentrates: Extraction, structural and functional properties.

Protein concentrates were prepared from defatted barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) flour using alkaline and enzymatic treatments. Milder enzymatic treatments included (i) a bi-enzymatic method involving the use of starch-hydrolyzing enzymes, and (ii) a tri-enzymatic method using the former bi-enzymatic treatment followed by digestion with glucanase.

Production of exopolysaccharides by selected Bacillus strains: Optimization of media composition to maximize the yield and structural characterization.

Selected Bacillus strains were investigated for the production of exopolysaccharides (EPS) by fermentation in three different culture media: (i) mineral base-medium with added yeast extract (M1), (ii) succinate-containing mineral base-medium with added yeast extract (M2) and (iii) tryptone and yeast extract-containing base-medium (M3). Modest EPS yield of 6.7g/L was recorded for Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 23350 grown on M1, where the EPS produced was characterized by a low MW (<5kDa) and of being mainly glucans.

Staphylococcal enterotoxins and enterotoxin-like toxins with special reference to dairy products: An overview.

Staphylococcal Enterotoxins (SEs) have been raising health concerns for food safety due to their association with staphylococcal foodborne poisoning (SFP). As superantigens, they also cause the life threatening toxic shock syndrome (TSS), the transmission of which via food cannot be ruled out despite the lack of epidemiological evidence. To date, at least 23 of these exotoxins are known and separated into SEs and Staphylococcal Enterotoxin-like (SEl) depending on whether or not they invoke emesis.

Biogenic Amines in Dairy Products: Origin, Incidence, and Control Means.

Biogenic amines (BAs) are toxic compounds produced by a number of microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts, and molds) as a result of the metabolism of some amino acid, usually decarboxylation reactions. BA-producing microorganisms are not necessarily pathogenic, such as lactic acid bacteria, which are, on the contrary, among the most beneficial microbiota to human beings and some of which even have probiotic properties. However, the incidence of BAs in dairy products and their possible implication in serious dairy-borne intoxications has long been overlooked.

Effectiveness of cell-adsorbed bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus curvatus CWBI-B28 and selected essential oils to control Listeria monocytogenes in pork meat during cold storage.

Aims: To study the effectiveness of a combination of cell-adsorbed bacteriocin (CAB; a suspension of producer cells on which maximum bacteriocin has been immobilized by pH adjustments) of a Lactobacillus curvatus strain with oregano or savory essential oil to control Listeria monocytogenes in pork meat at 4 degrees C.

Methods And Results: The antimicrobial activity of the CAB and six different essential oils was tested by the well diffusion assay against L. monocytogenes M, Escherichia coli 10536 and Salmonella serotype Typhi CWBI-H1.

Bacteriocin activity by Lactobacillus curvatus CWBI-B28 to inactivate Listeria monocytogenes in cold-smoked salmon during 4 degrees C storage.

The inhibition effectiveness of a bacteriocin produced by Lactobacillus curvatus CWBI-B28 against Listeria monocytogenes was investigated in cold-smoked salmon during storage at 4 degrees C. Three bacteriocin-based strategies for the control of L. monocytogenes in foods (i.

Lyophilized preparations of bacteriocinogenic Lactobacillus curvatus and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis as potential protective adjuncts to control Listeria monocytogenes in dry-fermented sausages.

Aim: Study of the effectiveness of in situ bacteriocin production by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) to control Listeria monocytogenes in dry-fermented sausages.

Methods And Results: Two bacteriocin-producing strains: Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis LMG21206 and Lactobacillus curvatus LBPE were grown in a pilot scale fermentor and lyophilized to be directly used in dry sausage fermentation.

Occurrence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 in selected dairy and meat products marketed in the city of Rabat, Morocco.

Samples of meat and dairy products taken from the city of Rabat, Morocco, were examined for the presence of Escherichia coli O157 by the selective enrichment procedure followed by plating on cefixime-tellurite-sorbitol MacConkey agar and a latex agglutination test. The ability of isolates to produce Shiga toxins (ST1 or ST2) was also tested by an agglutination test using sensitized latex. Dairy samples (n = 44) included different products commonly consumed in the country.

Behaviour of Listeria monocytogenes in raw sausages (merguez) in presence of a bacteriocin-producing lactococcal strain as a protective culture.

The effectiveness of a bacteriocin produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis M in reducing population level and growth of Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644 in fermented merguez sausage was examined. Two different formulas (with or without added nitrites) were assayed and predetermined numbers of Listeria (ca 10(6) cfu g(-1)) were added to sausage mixture.

Behavior of Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus in yogurt fermented with a bacteriocin-producing thermophilic starter.

Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus B producing a bacteriocin active against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644 and Staphylococcus aureus SAD 30 was isolated from bakery yeast. The bacteriocin was partially purified by an adsorption/desorption technique, and its spectrum of action was compared to that of a neutralized cell-free supernatant (CFS).

Effect of temperature, anaerobiosis, stirring and salt addition on natural fermentation silage of sardine and sardine wastes in sugarcane molasses.

Conditions for a natural fermentation during ensilage of sardines or their waste in sugarcane molasses (60:40 w/w) were evaluated regarding the effect of temperature (15, 25 and 35 degrees C), anaerobiosis (closed vs. open jars), daily stirring of the mixture, and salt addition to the initial mix at 5% (w/w) level. Successful natural fermentation took place in sardine silages incubated at 25 or 35 degrees C in open jars to reach a pH of 4.

Isolation of a bacteriocin-producing Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and application to control Listeria monocytogenes in Moroccan jben.

Aim: Use of a bacteriocin-producing lactococcal strain to control Listeria monocytogenes in jben.

Methods And Results: A Lactococcus lactis strain isolated from lben was shown, by the spot technique, to produce a bacteriocin different from nisin. Inhibitory activity of the bacteriocin-producing strain against Listeria monocytogenes was investigated in jben, made from cow's milk fermented with the producer organism and contaminated with 104 or 107 cfu ml-1.

Methods to demonstrate the bactericidal activity of bacteriocins.

Two simple techniques were developed to demonstrate bactericidal activity of bacteriocins. Both were based on allowing a lawn of indicator strain to grow first, then exposing the lawn to bacteriocin-containing cell-free supernatants in a well cut in the seeded agar lawn or by inoculating the bacteriocin-producing strain onto the indicator lawn. Lysis of cells of the indicator strain resulted in a clear zone.

Development and use of a selective medium for isolation of Leuconostoc spp. from vegetables and dairy products.

A selective medium (LUSM medium) for the isolation of Leuconostoc spp. was developed. This medium contained 1.

Inhibitory action of nisin against Listeria monocytogenes.

The sensitivity of nine strains of Listeria to nisin was determined as well as the minimum inhibitory concentration of nisin necessary to completely inhibit growth of these strains. All strains tested were variably sensitive to nisin and different MIC values were obtained, ranging from 740 to 10(5) IU/ml in trypticase soy agar and from 1.85 to 10(3) IU/ml in MRS agar.