According to the FAO and USDA, 25% of world agricultural crops are contaminated with some kind of mycotoxin and, as a consequence over, 532 million/ton of grains are contaminated. Considering that the base of animal feed is constituted by grains and cereals, most of this production may be contaminated with mycotoxins, which is very alarming. Economic consequences are significant and are not limited only to the added value of raw materials, but also to losses related to the loss of animal productivity, since the spread of mycotoxins occurs throughout the food chain, leading to contamination of final products, such as meat, milk and eggs.
Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus parasiticus, Aspergillus flavus and the uncommon Aspergillus nomius. They appear in foods in the forms of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), B2, G1 and G2 and in milk in the oxidative forms M1 and M2.
