Sun Dawen, South China University of Technology: The blocking and degradation of aflatoxin by low temperature plasma: application and mechanism

Recently, Sun Dawen of South China University of Technology published an online review entitled "Blocking and steven of aflatoxins by cold treatment plasmas: Applications and mechanisms" in the international top journal in the field of food, and systematically described the latest research advances in the treatment of cold plasma in aflatoxin prevention and control. Sun Dawen of South China University of Technology is the only correspondent for this paper.
statistics, due to mycotoxin pollution, about 25% of the world's food is ineducable, of which aflatoxin caused the most serious harm, to the food industry has brought great losses. Aflatoxin is immunotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenogenic and is one of the greatest threats to food safety and public health. Therefore, the development of aflatoxin purification technology is of great significance to the development of the food industry, and cold plasma is a new type of non-thermal processing technology, with environmental protection, high efficiency, low-cost characteristics, in recent years in microbial inactivation and mycotoxin de-contamination has been widely studied. This paper begins with a brief overview of aflatoxin and cryogenic plasma treatment. Then it elaborates the blocking effect of low temperature plasma treatment on aflatoxin, that is, the sterilization effect of low temperature plasma treatment on aflatoxin fungi, and discusses the relevant sterilization mechanism and application. This is followed by a detailed introduction to the degradation effect of low-temperature plasma treatment on aflatoxin, i.e. by degrading aflatoxin into a less toxic product, although there are many methods and strategies that can be taken before aflatoxin infection, but not always absolute purification, therefore, detoxification measures are essential to ensure food safety. In addition, by comparing with the traditional blocking and degradation methods of aflatoxin, the advantages of low temperature plasma treatment are highlighted. Finally, the limitations and challenges of low temperature plasma treatment are discussed. This review is expected to provide useful information for the food industry's early use of low-temperature plasma treatment for large-scale contamination of aflatoxin.
Sun Dawen
this article, Blocking and down of aflatoxins by cold plasma treatments: Applications and Mechanisms, was published online in March 2021 by Trends in Food Science and Technology.