AIMS We propose and test an efficient and rapid protocol for the detection of toxigenic Fusarium isolates producing three main types of Fusarium-associated mycotoxins (fumonisins, trichothecenes and zearelanone). METHODS AND RESULTS The novel approach utilizes partially multiplexed markers based on genes essential for mycotoxin biosynthesis (fumonisin--fum6, fum8; trichothecenes--tri5, tri6; ...

Corn, peanuts, cottonseed and tree nuts are the important commodities in which aflatoxin contamination can occur in the United States (Diener et al., 1987). Advanced technology has been developed to detect and remove the aflatoxins from these commodities and this permits some segregation of contaminated components and serves as a guide for detoxification (Goto and Manabe, 1989). Storage conditi...

 Out of 65 medicinal herbs and spices screened, 60 were contaminated while 5 were free from fungal contamination.  Analysis revealed that 45.31% of the samples have a fungal load above 1×10 cfu/g which is the permissible limit set by World Health Organization.  A total of 191 fungi were isolated in which Aspergillus and Penicillium were the predominant microorganism. Among the various fungal...

1 Mycotoxin patulin Mycotoxins are low-molecular-weight toxic chemical compounds with low volatility, representing secondary metabolites produced by certain filamentous fungi that colonize crops, in the field or post-harvest, capable of causing disease and death in humans and animals through the ingestion of contaminated food products (Cunha et al., 2014). Contamination of food and agricultural...

Efficacy of three different concentrations (5, 10 and 15 mg/ml) of dry flower powder of E. splendens and L. nepetaefolia was tested on the growth of aflatoxin-producing toxigenic strains of fungi A. flavus (NCBT 101) and A. parasiticus (NCBT 128) in Sabouraud dextrose agar medium (SDA). Maximum (75%) inhibition of growth of A. flavus was seen at 15 mg/ml concentration of E. splendens flower dry...