Ozone gas used for anti-aflatoxin for wheat

Evaluation of ozone gas as an anti-aflatoxin B1 in wheat grains during storage

El-Desouky, T. A1., Sharoba, A. M. A.2, A. I. El-Desouky2, El-Mansy, H. A2, Khayria Naguib1
1Food Toxicology and Contaminants Dept., National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt 2Food Sci. Dept., Moshtohor Faculty of Agric. Banha Univ., Egypt

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the most important agricultural crops. Egypt has one of the highest wheat per capita consumption levels in the world (108 kg/person/year).Wheat must be produced free of hazardous contaminants. However, previous investigations showed that wheat could be contaminated by aflatoxins above the limits that may be critical for health. In post-harvest situations, crop spoilage, fungal growth, and mycotoxin formation result from the interaction of several factors in the storage environment.

In this study, use of ozone gas achieved as an anti-aflatoxin B1 in wheat grains during storage. Wheat samples were artificially infected with spores count of Aspergillus flavus ATCC 28542 strain (105, 104, 103,102 and 101 spores/kg) and ozonation at 20 and 40 ppm ozone gas for 5, 10, 15 and 20 min at room temperature.
We not observed any amount of AFB1 in wheat samples were ozonation for 10, 15 and 20 min with spores count of Aspergillus flavus strain 105 to 101 (spores/kg), But AFB1 was formed in samples treated for 5 min at 20 and 40 ppm ozone gas with artificially infected spores count 105 and 104 (spores/kg) solely. While 5 min of exposure to ozone gas were sufficient inhibition production of AFB1 with the number of spores fewer than 104 spores/kg.

Keywords: Aflatoxin B1; inhibition; Ozone; Aspergillus flavus; storage; wheat

Evaluation of ozone gas as an anti-aflatoxin B1 in wheat grains during storage