Effects of ultraviolet-c treatment on growth and mycotoxin production by Alternaria strains isolated from tomato fruits.

Effects of ultraviolet-c treatment on growth and mycotoxin production by Alternaria strains isolated from tomato fruits. Int J Food Microbiol. 2019 Dec 02;311:108333 Authors: Jiang N, Li Z, Wang L, Li H, Zhu X, Feng X, Wang M Abstract Large amounts of tomato fruits and derived products are produced in China and may be contaminated by Alternaria mycotoxins, which may have the potential risks for human health. There is thus an increasing interest in reducing the mycotoxins. In the present study, 26 Alternaria strains isolated from tomato black rots were identified according to morphological and molecular grounds, and their mycotoxigenic abilities for alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl-ether (AME) and tenuazonic acid (TeA) were also investigated. The results showed that A. alternate was the predominant species with incidence values of 65.4% (17/26), followed by A. brassicae (7/26) and A. tenuissima (2/26). A. alternate isolates showed the highest capacity for AOH, AME and TeA production among the studied isolates either in vitro or in vivo, suggested that A. alternata may be the most important mycotoxin-producing species in tomato fruits. Thus, UV-C irradiation was used to reduce the mycotoxin produced by A. alternata in our study. The results showed that low dose of UV-C irradiation (0.25 kJ/m2) could effectively inhibit mycotoxins production and penetration in tomatoes. Upon treatment with UV-C, there was 79.6, 76.4 and 51.4%...
Source: International Journal of Food Microbiology - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: Int J Food Microbiol Source Type: research