Meat starter culture reduces Aspergillus parasiticus production of aflatoxins on meat-based and salami model media

Zahija Jazbec, Iva (author), Demšar, Lea (author), Jeršek, Barbara (author), Polak, Tomaž (author)

There is great concern about the risk posed by the consumption of food contaminated with aflatoxins (AF), produced mostly by Aspergillus strains, that can also be found in dry-fermented meat products (DFMPs). The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of meat starter culture (SC), frequently used for fermentation in the meat industry, on A. parasiticus growth and the production of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), aflatoxin G2 (AFG2), and sterigmatocystin (STE) on different meat-based (CMA) and salami model (SM-G) media. Incubation was carried out under optimal conditions for fungal growth and under typical conditions for ripening of DFMPs for 21 days. Reversed-phase UPLC–MS/MS analysis was performed to determine mycotoxin production. SC reduced A. parasiticus growth more on CMA than on SM-G media. AFB1 formation was inhibited on both types of SC-containing media, although SC generally had a stronger inhibitory effect on AFB1 production on CMA than on SM-G. AFB1 and AFB2 were produced on CMA, while AFB1 dominated in SM-G, AFG1, and AFG2 were not detected in any media. The results show that SC inhibited AFB1 formation of A. parasiticus on SM-G media after 21 days of incubation under typical conditions for the production of DFMPs. These results indicate the necessity to investigate AF on natural matrices in an environment that is as similar as possible to real conditions in the production of DFMPs.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Aspergillus parasiticus, aflatoxins, meat starter culture, meat-based media, salami model media, dry-fermented meat products, food safety
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 16 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 16, iss. 4, art. 173
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-165013
• UDC: 579.67:615.9:637.52
• ISSN on article: 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins16040173
• COBISS.SI-ID: 191254531
• Publication date in RUL: 20.11.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Toxins
• Shortened title: Toxins
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2072-6651
• COBISS.SI-ID: 517594649

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: plesni, Aspergillus parasiticus, aflatoksini, mesno gojišče, sušene mesnine

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P4-0234
• Name: Integrirano živilstvo in prehrana