Safe and Effective Degradation of Aflatoxins by Food-Grade Culture Broth of Aspergillus oryzae

Abstract

Aflatoxins (AFs) are carcinogenic fungal toxins contaminating up to 25% of the global food supply. Over half of the world’s population is exposed to unmonitored levels of AFs, mostly aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). Despite numerous efforts over the past 60 years, there are no solutions to remove AFs safely from food. Here, we present a safe and effective AF-degrading product called “D-Tox”, a filtered culture broth of Aspergillus oryzae grown in a food-grade liquid medium. When 5 ppm of AFB1 is added to D-Tox, ∼90% is degraded at 48 hr and 24 hr at room temperature and 50°C, respectively. Moreover, when varying amounts (0.1 ppm ∼ 100 ppm) of AFB1 are added to D-Tox at 100°C, over 95% of AFB1 is degraded in 1 hr, suggesting a non-enzymatic process. Examining degradation of 100 ppm AFB1 reveals that aflatoxin D1 (AFD1) is the major transient degradant of AFB1, indicating that degradation occurs irreversibly by lactone ring hydrolysis followed by decarboxylation. D-Tox further degrades AFD1 to unknown fragmented products. Importantly, the practical application of D-Tox is also demonstrated, as more than 70% of AFB1 is degraded when wheat, corn, and peanuts naturally contaminated with high levels of AFB1 (0.3 ∼ 4.5 ppm) are boiled in D-Tox for 1 hr. Additionally, D-Tox can degrade other lactone-ring-containing mycotoxins, including patulin and ochratoxin. D-Tox exhibits no cytotoxicity under the conditions tested in MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. In summary, D-Tox is a safe and effective AF-detoxifying novel product that can enhance global food safety.