Aflatoxin B1 Precise Test (Chilli Powder)

Mycotoxin contamination in food and feed is a global concern because mycotoxin contamination can cause both acute and chronic health effects in humans and animals. In the present work, an Escherichia coli-based biosensor is described for the toxicity assessment of aflatoxin B-1 (AFB(1)) and zearalenone (ZEN). In this electrochemical biosensor, E. coli is used as the signal recognition element, p-benzoquinone is used as the mediator, and a two-step reaction procedure has been developed to separate the mediator from the mycotoxins. The current value of the as-prepared microbial biosensor exhibits a linear decrease with concentrations of AFB(1) and ZEN in the range of 0.01-0.3 and 0.05-0.5 mu g/mL, with detection limits reaching 1 and 6 ng/mL, respectively. The IC25 values obtained by the present method are 0.25 and 0.40 mu g/mL for AFB(1) and ZEN, which shows that the cytotoxicity of AFB(1) to E. coli is more severe than the cytotoxicity of ZEN to E. coli. The combined toxic effect of these two mycotoxins has also been explored, and synergistic biotoxicity has been observed. Moreover, the biosensor is successfully applied to the toxicity evaluation of mycotoxins in real samples, including peanut and corn oils. This work could provide new insight into mycotoxin and microorganism interactions and could establish a new approach for future mycotoxin detection. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pretreatment of fruit and vegetables is necessary to reduce microbial proliferation and to preserve color of the produce. The effect of drying and pretreatment with potassium metabisulfite (KMBS) of concentrations 0.0%, 0.1%, 0.15%, 0.2%, and 1.0% and blanching at 100 degrees C and 50 degrees C using a tent-like concrete solar (CSD) dryer as compared to open-sun drying (OSD) of yellow ginger rhizomes was investigated using routine methods. The total color change and residual sulfur dioxide (SO2) were analyzed. KMBS reduced the yeast and mould load significantly from 3.6 x 10(4) +/- 1.4 x 10(3) CFU/g in 0.0% (control) to <10 CFU/g in 1.0% KMBS and 100 degrees C blanched fresh samples. Drying of the fresh samples for 5 days increased the yeast and mould load of all the treatments to as high as 1.15 x 10(5) +/- 2.12 x 10(4) CFU/g for the 1.0% KMBS. Overall, the CSD had fewer microbial loads than the OSD but it was not significant. Aflatoxins andSalmonellasp. were not detected in any of the samples. The sulfur dioxide residue (SO2) for KMBS pretreated samples increased as the concentration of KMBS increased with the CSD retaining slightly higher amount than the OSD. The total color change index increased with increase in KMBS, and drying further increased the total color change index. On the whole, the blanched samples had the least color change among the pretreatments with 100 degrees C CSD showing the least change among the dried samples.