Nature of aflatoxins: Their extraction, analysis, and control

Aflatoxins gain entry into food products when proper drying, storage, and transport conditions are not applied. They comprise of closely related compounds for example, aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, M1, and M2. The order of toxicity among aflatoxis is B1 > G1 > B2 > G2. In developing countries, the serious illness and deaths are common due to acute aflatoxicosis and human children are more prone to their attack. Chronic aflatoxicosis affects on animal nutrition status. Aflatoxins are commonly extracted from foodstuffs by liquid–liquid extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, and solid phase extraction. They are analyzed by thin layer chromatography, high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), HPLC‐mass spectrometry and UV‐Visible spectroscopy. They demonstrate high stability within food or feed stuffs and can be removed by physical, chemical, and biological means. Physical approaches use heat, sunlight, UV light, gamma rays, or adsorption phenomenon while chemical methods involve various fungicides, herbal plant extracts, oxidizing/hydrolytic/chlorinating agents, or clay. Biological approaches involve either probiotic and yeast mixtures or atoxigenic fungi. A proper detoxification procedure ensures the nutritional value of food/feed stuffs and does not generate new carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic substances. Consideration of hygienic precautions and technical assistance, implementation of regulatory initiatives, and stricter quality control measures are all important for their control. Practical applications Aflatoxins are toxic metablotics produced primarily by means of fungal species. Cereals, spices, nuts, grapes, apples, dried fruit, dried vegetables (peas, beans), oil seeds, teas, cocoa, and coffees are commonly infected aflatoxins. Their presence in an animal diet severely affects the kidneys, liver, rate of growth and reproduction, serious illness, and even death. The aflatoxin problem is more common in developing countries. The present work highlights the physical and chemical nature of aflatoxins, various types of aflatoxicosis, and the strategies used for their control; their control methods have been correlated with the environmental conditions. Attempts have also been made to discuss the techniques used for their detection, extraction, identification, analysis, and characterization.