Life's curiosities!!

Who don't like to drink a beer and eat peanut in a sunny weekend? Or eat in the breakfast bread with peanut butter? We hate when the peanut is with bad taste, kind of bitter! Right?!
So, that is because the food was contaminated with a kind of fungi and that fungi produces a mycotoxin which calls Aflatoxin! Yes, it's scary!
That toxin can be very hazardous to animals and humans. The Aflotoxin was discovered in 1960 when more than 100.000 turkey died on farms in England. Researches found toxic substances in a peanut meal which the poultry have eaten. That toxin is probably the most studied mycotoxin in the world, one of the reasons is because the researches found a carcinogenic effect according to researchers of the Cornell University in the article "Aflatoxin: Occurrence and health risks". The contamination depends a lot of factors for example the environment, agriculture practices, if the crops are susceptible to the fungi of the Aspergillus genus.
This contamination can occur before, during or after the harvest; this fungi can spread many crops as corn, peanut, cottonseed, nuts, almonds and another types of food as milk and milk products which that food are the staple food in many countries.
Aflatoxin is considered unavoidable contaminant of food and feed, many process are being developed to reduce the contamination, but it is very hard, so the FDA has established levels to this contamination in foods.
So, in our life have so much things which we can't imagine it is bad for us, we have to investigate and find a solution for the problems. I believe that researchers will find a solution to this problem related to Aflatoxin.

 
Aspergillus flavus seen under an electron microscope.


Infested corn with Aspergillus.