Aflatoxin

The chemistry, metabolism, human and animal toxicoses, economic losses, global implications and future considerations of Aflatoxins forms the introductory part of the book followed by aspects of mycology, invasion of the fungus, biosynthesis and its influencing factors, in vitro production and purification, natural occurrence, their state in food and affinity to macromolecules in the second part. A review of the available methods of analysis of aflatoxins in food and feed commodities is given in the third part, wherein their comparative merits are discussed in terms of sensitivity, precision, accuracy, rapidity and reliability in estimating aflatoxins. The final part on control includes: prevention of fungal infection of crops by agricultural practices, drying of foods to safe moisture, development of resistant varieties, biocontrol and other biotechnological approaches; detoxification by physical, chemical and biological methods by following certain criteria to preserve the quality of the detoxified ones; and regulatory measures by various countries, in order to make foods/ feeds safe for consumption along with the aspects of chemoprevention and metabolic detoxification of aflatoxins.