Background: Peanuts are one of the commonly consumed snacks but with poor storage practices and handling can make them prone to food borne infections.
Objective: The study aimed to measure the level of aflatoxin B1 in peanuts, which are contaminated with Aspergillus flavus before and after decontamination by yeast to detect the effect of biological decontamination of aflatoxin B1 in peanuts by yeast in selected locations in Qalubia Governorate in Egypt.
Materials and Methods: This study was carried out on 30 peanut samples from 3 different cities.Fungal Counts was determined by the dilution plate technique, Isolation of Fungi was done by direct plating method on SDA and incubated at 25 and 30°C, for 7 days, suspected aflatoxigenic fungi (A. flavus) that identified from peanuts were taken for aflatoxin analysis using Aflatoxin B1 ELISA Assay Kit then decontamination of peanuts by baker's yeast for 6 h and 24 h at 37 °c then requantitation of aflatoxin B1 after 6 h and 24 h by ELIZA method.
Results: There was significant strong positive correlation between fungal count and aflatoxin concentration with the samples from “Qalub” had the highest fungal count (30 ×10³ cfu/g) while “Benha” had the lowest count of (5 ×10³ cfu/g). Also we found that the aflatoxin concentration in “Benha” and “Kaha” less than the concentrations in “Qalub”. The aflatoxin B1 concentration is decreased after microbiological decontamination with prolonged contact with backer's yeast.
Conclusion: This study showed that the peanuts were contaminated with toxigenic fungi, and we observed that yeasts have a huge potential application in aflatoxin degradation in foodstuffs. |
