Mycotoxigenic fungi and their toxins are a global concern, causing huge economic and health impacts in developing countries such as Ethiopia, where the mycotoxin control system is inadequate. This work aimed to review the occurrences of agriculturally essential fungi such as Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium and their major mycotoxins in Ethiopian food/feedstuffs. The incidents of crucial toxins, including aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2, M1), fumonisins (B1, B2), zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, and ochratoxin A, were studied. The impacts of chronic aflatoxin exposure on liver cancer risks, synergy with chronic hepatitis B infection, and possible links with Ethiopian childhood malnutrition were thoroughly examined. In addition, health risks of other potential mycotoxin exposure are also discussed, and the impacts of unsafe level of mycotoxin contaminations on economically essential export products and livestock productions were assessed. Feasible mycotoxin mitigation strategies such as biocontrol methods and binding agents (bentonite) were recommended because they are relatively cheap for low-income farmers and widely available in Ethiopia, respectively. Moreover, Ethiopian mycotoxin regulations, storage practice, adulteration practice, mycotoxin tests, and knowledge gaps among value chain actors were highlighted. Finally, sustained public awareness was suggested, along with technical and human capacity developments in the food control sector.

The use of synthetic fungicides against postharvest Alternaria rot adversely affects human health and the environment. In this study, as a safe alternative to fungicides, Bacillus subtilis strain Y17B isolated from soil exhibited significant antifungal activity against Alternaria alternata. Y17B was identified as B. subtilis based on phenotypic identification and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. To reveal the antimicrobial activity of this strain, a PCR-based study detected the presence of antifungal lipopeptide (LP) biosynthetic genes from genomic DNA. UPLC Q TOF mass spectrometry analysis detected the LPs surfactin (m/z 994.64, 1022.68, and 1026.62), iturin (m/z 1043.56), and fengycin (m/z 1491.85) in the extracted LP crude of B. subtilis Y17B. In vitro antagonistic study demonstrated the efficiency of LPs in inhibiting A. alternata growth. Microscopy (SEM and TEM) studies showed the alteration of the morphology of A. alternata in the interaction with LPs. In vivo test results revealed the efficiency of LPs in reducing the growth of the A. alternata pathogen. The overall results highlight the biocontrol potential of LPs produced by B. subtilis Y17B as an effective biological control agent against A. alternata fruit rot of cherry.

Mycotoxin contamination of food and feed is a major concern in sub-Sahara African countries, particularly Nigeria. It represents a significant limit to health of human, livestock as well as the international trade. Aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxin, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and beauvericin are the major mycotoxins recognised in the aetiology of food safety challenges that precipitated countless number of diseases. In Nigeria, aflatoxins and fumonisin found in nearly all crops are the most common mycotoxins of economic and health importance such as sorghum, maize and groundnuts. Thus, consumption of food contaminated with mycotoxins are inevitable, hence the need for adequate regulation is necessary in these frontier economies as done in many developed economies to ensure food safety for human and animals. In low and middle-income countries, especially Nigeria, there is lack of awareness and sufficient information on the risk associated with consequent of mycotoxin contamination on wellbeing of human, animals health and the economy. It is based on the foregoing that this paper summarized the status of mycotoxin present in Nigerian food and feeds relative to the global regulatory standards. This aimed at preventing consuming mycotoxin contaminated food stuff while confronting its associated challenges. Suggestions on some possible control strategies to mitigate vending mycotoxin food and feeds were made.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) usually contaminates agricultural products such as grapes, oatmeal, coffee and spices. Light was reported as an effective strategy to control spoilage fungi and mycotoxins. This research investigated the effects of light with different wavelengths on the growth and the production of OTA in Aspergillus ochraceus and Aspergillus carbonarius. The results showed that the growth of both fungi were extremely inhibited by UV-B. Short-wavelength (blue, violet) significantly inhibited the production of OTA in both fungi, while the inhibitory effect of white was only demonstrated on A. ochraceus. These results were supported by the expression profiles of OTA biosynthetic genes of A. ochraceus and A. carbonarius. To clarify, the decrease in OTA production is induced by inhibition or degradation; therefore, the degradation of OTA under different wavelengths of light was tested. Under UV-B, the degradation rate of 10 μg/mL OTA standard pure-solution samples could reach 96.50% in 15 days, and the degradation effect of blue light was relatively weak. Furthermore, infection experiments of pears showed that the pathogenicity of both fungi was significantly decreased under UV-B radiation. Thus, these results suggested that light could be used as a potential target for strategies in the prevention and control of ochratoxigenic fungi.

Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites that represent serious threats to human and animal health. They are mainly produced by strains of the saprophytic fungus Aspergillus flavus, which are abundantly distributed across agricultural commodities. AF contamination is receiving increasing attention by researchers, food producers, and policy makers in China, and several interesting review papers have been published, that mainly focused on occurrences of AFs in agricultural commodities in China. The goal of this review is to provide a wider scale and up-to-date overview of AF occurrences in different agricultural products and of the distribution of A. flavus across different food and feed categories and in Chinese traditional herbal medicines in China, for the period 2000–2020. We also highlight the health impacts of chronic dietary AF exposure, the recent advances in biological AF mitigation strategies in China, and recent Chinese AF standards.

Post-harvest fruit rot caused by Alternaria species is one of the most important threats to the fruit industry. Post-harvest rot on sweet cherry (Prunus avium) fruit was observed in the fruit markets of the Haidian district of Beijing, China. The fungal isolates obtained from the infected sweet cherry fruits matched the descriptions of Alternaria alternata based on the morphology and multi-gene (ITS, endo-PG, and Alta1) sequence analysis. Pathogenicity tests indicated that ACT-3 was the most virulent isolate, exhibiting typical post-harvest fruit rot symptoms. Physiological studies revealed that the optimal conditions for the growth of ACT-3 were temperature of 28°C, water activity of 0.999, and pH of 8 with 87, 85, and 86 mm radial growth of ACT-3 on a potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, respectively, at 12 days post-inoculation (dpi). Moreover, the fungus showed the highest growth on a Martin agar medium (MAM) modified (85 mm) and a PDA medium (84 mm) at 12 dpi. The proliferation of the fungus was visualized inside the fruit tissues by confocal and scanning electron microscope (SEM), revealing the invasion and destruction of fruit tissues. Alternaria mycotoxins, tenuazonic acid (TeA), and alternariol (AOH) were detected in five representative isolates by HPLC analysis. The highest concentrations of TeA (313 μg/mL) and AOH (8.9 μg/mL) were observed in ACT-6 and ACT-3 isolates, respectively. This study is the first to present a detailed report on the characteristics and proliferation of A. alternata associated with sweet cherry fruit rot and the detection of toxic metabolites.