Technologies to decontaminate aflatoxins in foods: a review

Abstract

Abstract Aflatoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus spp., found in staple food commodities. Aflatoxins are carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic and pose a serious threat to the health of humans. The identification and quantification of aflatoxins in foods is a major challenge to guarantee food safety. Therefore, developing feasible, sensitive, and robust methods for decontamination is paramount, with short processing time and negligible impact on quality. This review evaluates recent novel technologies for aflatoxins decontamination by physical methods (microwave heating, Gama and electron beam irradiation, pulse light and ultraviolet), chemical methods (ozone, natural plant extracts, and organic acids), and biological methods (atoxigenic Aspergillus strains, Trichoderma spp., and bacteria and yeast). The study highlights on the cutting-edge technologies of smart packaging and artificial intelligence (AI). To achieve more efficiency and adaptability to different food matrices in aflatoxins decontamination, the study suggests integrating multiple strategies. The study also recommends integrating Partnership for Delivery (P4D) to share the responsibility to increase the chance for success and control aflatoxins in foods.