Mycotoxins Affecting Animals, Foods, Humans, and Plants: Types, Occurrence, Toxicities, Action Mechanisms, Prevention, and Detoxification Strategies-A Revisit

Abstract

Mycotoxins are produced by fungi and are known to be toxic to humans and animals. Common mycotoxins include aflatoxins, ochratoxins, zearalenone, patulin, sterigmatocystin, citrinin, ergot alkaloids, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, trichothecenes, Alternaria toxins, tremorgenic mycotoxins, fusarins, 3-nitropropionic acid, cyclochlorotine, sporidesmin, etc. These mycotoxins can pose several health risks to both animals and humans, including death. As several mycotoxins simultaneously occur in nature, especially in foods and feeds, the detoxification and/or total removal of mycotoxins remains challenging. Moreover, given that the volume of scientific literature regarding mycotoxins is steadily on the rise, there is need for continuous synthesis of the body of knowledge. To supplement existing information, knowledge of mycotoxins affecting animals, foods, humans, and plants, with more focus on types, toxicity, and prevention measures, including strategies employed in detoxification and removal, were revisited in this work. Our synthesis revealed that mycotoxin decontamination, control, and detoxification strategies cut across pre-and post-harvest preventive measures. In particular, pre-harvest measures can include good agricultural practices, fertilization/irrigation, crop rotation, using resistant varieties of crops, avoiding insect damage, early harvesting, maintaining adequate humidity, and removing debris from the preceding harvests. On the other hand, post-harvest measures can include processing, chemical, biological, and physical measures. Additionally, chemical-based methods and other emerging strategies for mycotoxin detoxification can involve the usage of chitosan, ozone, nanoparticles, and plant extracts.

Keywords: action mechanisms; detoxification; food products; mycotoxins; prevention strategies; toxicity challenges.

Figure 1

The chemical structures of common mycotoxins (Reprinted/Adapted from sources [1,3,7,9,19]).

Figure 2

Chemical structures of some common ergot alkaloids (Reprinted/Adapted from sources [1,9,151,153]).

Figure 3

The chemical structures of common Alternaria toxins (Reprinted/Adapted from sources [1,7,164,165]).

Figure 4

Schematic display of pre- and post-harvest tactics that can be applied to achieve mycotoxin prevention/detoxification, and their links to good harvesting practices and safe transportation (Reprinted/Adapted with permission from Afsah-Hejri, Hajeb, & Ehsani [211], 2020, John Wiley & Sons, Inc).