Detoxification of aflatoxins in foods by ultraviolet irradiation, hydrogen peroxide, and their combination - A review

Aflatoxins (AFs) contamination is prevalent in foods around the world. Many studies have been performed to recover foods contaminated with unacceptable levels of AFs. This review evaluated AFs detoxification technologies of ultraviolet (UV), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and their combination. Microscopic evidence has demonstrated that AFs are mainly distributed on or near the surface of contaminated foods, and thus a treatment applied near the surface would be sufficient for detoxification. UV is an ideal treatment due to its ability to detoxify AFs, affordable cost, and less quality impact. UV can degrade aflatoxin B1 into more than 200 times less toxic compound, aflatoxin B2a, justifying the use of this method in practice. However, the "shadow effect" and poor penetrability are concerns when applying UV on solid materials. H2O2 can oxidize AFs into less toxic compounds with negligible quality change and no residual issue after treatment. H2O2 is usually combined with heat, radiation, or alkali to promote the oxidation process. Combining UV and H2O2 (Advanced Oxidation Processes, AOPs) can photolyze H2O2 into free radicals, which can oxidize most organic compounds and has been used for pollutants decontamination in water treatment. Previous works demonstrated that AOPs could successfully detoxify AFs in contaminated food.