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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Food Quality Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #344235
Research Project: Development of Novel Tools to Manage Fungal Plant Pathogens that Cause Postharvest Decay of Pome Fruit to Reduce Food Waste

Location: Food Quality Laboratory

Title: The threats to food safety and biocontrol of aflatoxins

Author
item CHEN, YUJIE - Ocean University Of China
item Yu, Jiujiang
item KONG, QING - Ocean University Of China

Submitted to: International Biotechnology Color Journal
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/6/2016
Publication Date: 6/6/2017
Citation: Chen, Y., Yu, J., Kong, Q. 2017. The threats to food safety and biocontrol of aflatoxins. International Biotechnology Color Journal. 4(3):6-28.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Aflatoxins are a serious food safety concern for human and animal health. Great attention should be paid to the dietary exposure to these toxins in order to reduce the risk of aflatoxin contamination in the food chain. Although the research on aflatoxins was started more than 50 years ago, it is still not able to completely solve aflatoxins contamination due to numerous factors including biological, genetic, biochemical, environmental, and economical reasons. The high quality safe food for the consumers is the most important objective for us to achieve. Among the strategies that have been reported to manage the aflatoxin contamination to food and feed, biological control seems to be the most promising approach according to their biological systems, living organisms or their derivatives. The use of new materials like enzymes, peptides, essential oils or the antagonistic microorganisms of aflatoxigenic fungi, seems to be more effective against aflatoxin contaminations, and more importantly, they are safe for human and animal health, friendly to the ecosystems and the environment.