A comprehensive review of decontamination techniques for mycotoxin control in food: Advancement from conventional to unconventional strategies and the way forward.

Abstract

Mycotoxin contamination of food and feed is a lingering issue of the global agro-food industries and a matter of severe socio-economic concern. Several methods have been conventionally employed for mycotoxin decontamination but their efficiency remained low and insufficient due to robustness of mycotoxin structures. In this article, use of unconventional technologies like irradiation, ozonation, cold activated plasma, magnetic nanoparticles, high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, pulsed light, natural essential oils and phytochemicals in controlling growth of toxigenic fungi and degrading mycotoxins in various foodstuffs have been reviewed. The efficacy of decontamination of different types of major mycotoxins by these novel techniques and the associated safety and limitation factors have been analysed and discussed in detail. Combination of different unconventional techniques and impact of techno-economic-environmental aspects associated with these advanced technologies on their adoption and implementation at large scale to achieve a green and sustainable control of mycotoxins have been highlighted.