Risk Profile of Aflatoxin

1416 Words3 Pages

Introduction
Aflatoxin is a kind of mycotoxins, which involve all toxins produced by fungi. About 30 years ago, Aflatoxin was found when 100000 turkeys were poisoned and dead in Britain (HKSAR, 2011). Several high-profile contagions have occurred in Eastern Africa in these 20 years (Azziz-Baumgartner, 2005). Aflatoxin has been closely monitored; due to this mycotoxin can cause serious impact on agricultural crops and human health. It is the most popular researched in a variety of mycotoxin known to human disease (HKSAR, 2011). This risk profile summarizes the existing scientific information and helps to prioritize the various problems. The four objectives as a scientific foundation of this risk assessment consists are: Hazard Identification, Hazard Characterization, Exposure Assessment and Risk Characterization.
Hazard Identification Aflatoxins often arise in crops in the field before harvest, while postharvest contamination can appear if crop drying is delayed, and if water is allowed to exceed critical values for the mold growth during storage of the crop. Insect or rodent infestations facilitate mold invasion of some stored commodities (HKSAR, 2011). Aflatoxins are normally found in peanuts, cottonseed, nuts, figs, spices, and a variety of dried fruits and feeds. Milk, eggs, and meat products are polluted because of the animal intake of Aflatoxin contaminated feed (D. Dhanasekaran et al., 2011).
The primary target organ for Aflatoxins is the liver, and after the it invades into the liver, lipids permeate hepatocytes and result in necrosis or liver cell death (D. Dhanasekaran et al., 2011). It also effects on the lungs, myocardium and. Furthermore, results shows that, the Aflatoxin can accumulate in the brain, and teratogenic ef...

... middle of paper ...

...cessed March 2014.
Rodricks, J.V. & Stoloff, L. (1977). Mycotoxins in human and animal health. Pathotox publishers, park forest, south, 1L, pp.67-69
Smith, R. H. (1965). The inhibition of amino acid activation in the live and E. coli preparations by Aflatoxin in vivo. Biochem. J, Vol.95, pp.438-448
Stoloff, L. (1980). Aflatoxin M1 in perspective. J. Food Prot, Vol.43, pp.226
WHO, World Health Organization (1979). Environmental Health Criteria, Safety evaluation of certain food additives. pp. 1-127
WHO, World Health Organization. Risk assessment. Food safety. Available at http://www.who.int/foodsafety/micro/riskassessment/en/ – accessed March 2014.
Yin-Hui Leong, Aishah A. Latiff, Nurul Izzah Ahmad, Ahmad Rosma. Exposure measurement of aflatoxins and aflatoxin metabolites in human body fluids. A short review. Mycotoxin Research May 2012, Volume 28, Issue 2, pp. 79-87

More about Risk Profile of Aflatoxin

Open Document