Microbiological Control of Mycotoxins: Present Status and Future Concerns

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxic substances in foods, posing considerable health risk to humans. Microbiological decontamination of mycotoxins using microorganisms is one of the well-known strategies for the management of mycotoxins. Numerous organisms, including bacteria, fungi and yeasts have been tested for their ability in reducing mycotoxigenic fungi and resultant mycotoxin contamination in foods. Great successes in reducing aflatoxin contamination in fields of different crops have been achieved by application of atoxigenic strains of Aspergillus. However, in this chapter, we review the developments in biological control of mycotoxin contamination with particular emphasis on aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxins and patulin to develop further proper management strategies to control mycotoxins in foods.