Current Review of Mycotoxin Biodegradation and Bioadsorption: Microorganisms, Mechanisms, and Main Important Applications.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi. Food/feed contamination by mycotoxins is a great threat to food safety. The contamination can occur along the food chain and can cause many diseases in humans and animals, and it also can cause economic losses. Many detoxification methods, including physical, chemical, and biological techniques, have been established to eliminate mycotoxins in food/feed. The biological method, with mycotoxin detoxification by microorganisms, is reliable, efficient, less costly, and easy to use compared with physical and chemical ones. However, it is important to discover the metabolite's toxicity resulting from mycotoxin biodegradation. These compounds can be less or more toxic than the parent. On the other hand, mechanisms involved in a mycotoxin's biological control remain still unclear. Mostly, there is little information about the method used by microorganisms to control mycotoxins. Therefore, this article presents an overview of the most toxic mycotoxins and the different microorganisms that have a mycotoxin detoxification ability. At the same time, different screening methods for degradation compound elucidation are given. In addition, the review summarizes mechanisms of mycotoxin biodegradation and gives some applications.

Modelling the dehydration kinetics of four onion varieties in an oven and a solar greenhouse.

The Oven drying kinetics mathematical modelling of four Senegalese onion varieties is carried out in the temperature range from 50 °C to 70 °C. The R2 (dispersion test) and the χ2 (fit test) between the experimental data and the values predicted by the models show that whatever the temperature and the variety, the Verma et al. model is the one that best fits the oven drying kinetics. The R2 average and χ2 average values for the Galmi Violet, Safari, Gandiol F1 and Orient F1 are respectively between 0.9848 to 0.9961 and 0.0010 to 0.006. This best model is validated on the solar greenhouse drying kinetics at variable temperatures during the drying process. The Drying Characteristic Curves (DCCs) have identical patterns for the four onion varieties and are described with third order polynomials in the reduced moisture content range from 0.1 to 0.7. The Galmi Violet, with the slowest drying rate, is the limiting variety, followed by the Safari, Gandiol F1 and Orient F1. Furthermore, the critical and equilibrium reduced moisture content deduced from the DCCs are respectively between 0.55 to 0.70 and 0.05 to 0.15.

Relationships between anthocyanins and other compounds and sensory acceptability of Hibiscus drinks.

Chemical composition of Hibiscus drinks (Koor and Vimto varieties, commercial and traditional, infusions and syrups) (n=8) was related to sensory evaluation and acceptance. Significant correlations between chemical composition and sensory perception of drinks were found (i.e. anthocyanin content and Hibiscus taste) (p<0.05). Consumers (n=160) evaluated drink acceptability on a 9-point verbal hedonic scale. Three classes of behaviour were identified: (a) those who preferred syrup (43% of consumers); (b) those who preferred infusion (36%); and (c) those who preferred all of the samples (21%). Acceptability of 'syrup likers' was positively correlated to sweet taste, reducing sugar content and inversely correlated to acidic taste and titratable acidity (p<0.10). Acceptability of 'infusion likers' was positively correlated to the taste of Hibiscus drink and anthocyanin content. The study showed that the distinctions between the acceptability groups are very clear with respect to the chemical composition and rating of sensory attributes.