Mycotoxin food safety risk in developing countries

"Mycotoxins are produced by fungi, commonly known as mold. These toxins can develop during production, harvesting, or storage of grains, nuts, and other crops. Mycotoxins are among the most potent mutagenic and carcinogenic substances known. They pose chronic health risks: prolonged exposure through diet has been linked to cancer and kidney, liver, and immune-system disease. Because mycotoxins occur more frequently under tropical conditions and diets in many developing countries are more heavily concentrated in crops susceptible to mycotoxins, these chronic health risks are particularly prevalent in developing countries." from TextFood safety ,food security ,Public health ,

Evidence for two spin-glass transitions with magnetoelastic and magnetoelectric couplings in the multiferroic (Bi1−x_{1-x}Bax_x)(Fe1−x_{1-x}Tix_x)O3_3 system

For disordered Heisenberg systems with small single ion anisotropy, two spin glass transitions below the long range ordered phase transition temperature has been predicted theoretically for compositions close to the percolation threshold. Experimental verification of these predictions is still controversial for conventional spin glasses. We show that multiferroic spin glass systems can provide a unique platform for verifying these theoretical predictions via a study of change in magnetoelastic and magnetoelectric couplings, obtained from an analysis of diffraction data, at the spin glass transition temperatures. Results of macroscopic and microscopic (x-ray and neutron scattering) measurements are presented on disordered BiFeO3, a canonical Heisenberg system with small single ion anisotropy, which reveal appearance of two spin glass phases SG1 and SG2 in coexistence with the LRO phase below the A-T and G-T lines. It is shown that the temperature dependence of the integrated intensity of the antiferromagnetic peak shows dips with respect to the Brillouin function behaviour around the SG1 and SG2 transition temperatures. The ferroelectric polarisation changes significantly at the two spin glass transition temperatures. These results, obtained using microscopic techniques, clearly demonstrate that the SG1 and SG2 transitions occur on the same magnetic sublattice and are intrinsic to the system. We also construct a phase diagram showing all the magnetic phases in BF-xBT system. While our results on the two spin glass transitions support the theoretical predictions, it also raises several open questions which need to be addressed by revisiting the existing theories of spin glass transitions by taking into account the effect of magnetoelastic and magnetoelectric couplings as well as electromagnons.Comment: 59 pages 21 figure

Utilization of mouldy sorghum and Cassia tora through fermentation for feed purposes

Microbial fermentation of mouldy grains brought about by lactic acid bacteria is gaining much significance owing to their ability to inhibit mould growth and detoxify mycotoxins while improving the nutritive value and safety of the product. In the present study the potential of developing a probiotic feed ingredient from a combination of mouldy sorghum and Cassia tora seeds, using spontaneous fermentation was explored. The effect of fermentation at 0, 24 and 36 h on the microflora, ergosterol,mycotoxins and nutritive value, of mouldy sorghum was assessed individually and in combination with C. tora seeds. A reduction in mould counts upto 58 and 96% was observed at 24 and 36 h of fermentingmouldy sorghum. Total plate count increased by 2 fold and Lactobacillus count increased by 4 fold when mouldy sorghum was fermented singly or with C. tora seeds. Fermentation decreased ergosterol by 76%,aflatoxin to non-detectable levels at 36 h of fermentation and fumonisin B1 to non-detectable levels at 24 and 36 h of fermentation of mouldy sorghum. Fermentation resulted in marginal improvement in nutritivevalue of mouldy sorghum when estimated in terms of proximate principles and mineral elements. Addition of C. tora resulted in considerable increase in nutritive value particularly with respect to protein and mineral elements like iron and calcium in mouldy sorghum