Effects of Food Processing on Mycotoxins

Most data on mycotoxin contamination applies to agricultural products, such as grains, and could be used to assess human dietary intake of mycotoxins if the effects of food processing, storage and home cooking were known. Several factors - the nature of the process, the food matrix, moisture content of the foodstuff, additives, and mode and level of contamination - can affect experimental results on the decomposition or loss of mycotoxins during food processing. Additionally, the various mycotoxins that have been studied possess wide differences in stability. For example, during the making of bread from wheat flour, up to 100% of ergot alkaloids are destroyed, whereas vomitoxin is stable. Most research on processing of foods containing mycotoxins has been carried out with the aflatoxins, including studies on the sorting and roasting of peanuts, cleaning and milling of corn, the various stages in making vegetable oils, storage and cooking of meat, cooking of corn products, breadmaking, and (for aflatoxin M₁) the processing of milk and cheese. In general, aflatoxins are moderately stable during roasting processes and persist into finished foods, such as peanut butter. Ochratoxin A, patulin, and vomitoxin and other trichothecenes have also received considerable attention. Little information is available on conversion products of mycotoxins during food processing.