Current Trends in Toxin Analysis of Agricultural Products: Improving the Food Safety with the Help of Biotechnologies

Abstract

Food safety has become an extremely important problem for modern society. With increasing pollution of agricultural products with various toxic compounds, the need for technological control and consumer health protection has increased [1]. Therefore, new methods for sensitive and rapid on-site detection of toxic contaminants in food and agricultural products are required. The aim of this thematic issue is to carry out the detection of various toxic contaminants in food and agricultural products, and also the development of new sensitive methods for their detection. Pathogenic microorganisms such as Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium langsethia, and Staphylococcus aureus and their toxic metabolite compounds – aflatoxins, T-2 toxins, and enterotoxins, respectively, are present in agricultural products and are dangerous for human health [2]. Furthermore, pathogenic microorganisms cause mastitis in cows. During the onset of mastitis, neutrophils get activated, attracted and attempt to kill the invading pathogens [3]. Studying the role of neutrophils in the infection and its subsequent effect on some of the milk quality parameters is a very important task. Also, organophosphorus pesticides play an important role in agriculture, but they are very toxic compounds and they need constant monitoring [4]. The necessity of wide screening control of food and agriculture contamination is due to the widespread distribution and the significant and multiple toxic effects of these toxic compounds. The high toxicity of these toxins requires accurate and reliable detection methods for safety food, agricultural products and water. It is necessary to develop rapid and sensitive assays for the determination of low concentrations of these toxic compounds. Therefore, different new sensitive methods for the determination of the mentioned toxins are presented in this thematic issue. All the proposed assays are based on an immunoreaction antibody-antigen that is highly specific and sensitive [5]. A rapid and sensitive fluorescent immunoassay based on Magnetic Nanoparticles (MNPs) with a polyclonal and monoclonal antibody for deter-mination of enterotoxin A