Biological detoxification of mycotoxins: a review

Mycotoxins are secondary fungal metabolites and are reported to be carcinogenic, genotoxic, teratogenic, dermato-, nephro- and hepatotoxic. Several studies have shown that economic losses due to mycotoxins occur at all levels of food and feed production, including crop and animal production, processing and distribution. Therefore, there is a great demand for a novel approach to prevent both the formation of mycotoxins in food and feed and the impact of existing mycotoxin contamination. Recently, investigators have reported that many microorganisms including bacteria, yeast, moulds, actinomycetes and algae are able to remove or degrade mycotoxins in food and feed. We have reviewed various strategies for the detoxification of mycotoxins using microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and fungi.