All about aflatoxin the silent killer!! Part I

GOOD morning to you all once again, nearly everyday we face question of conscience. We must choose between doing what pleases God and what appeals to our own selfish desires, Government officials maybe tempted to accept brides and to make unethical decisions, employees are sometimes asked to rearrange numbers or files false reports. Students often face temptation such as creating and plagiarism.

As Christians, we face situations in our daily lives that are conscience- testers. They help us to see whether we are serious about integrity God expects of us. We know our choices will have good or bad consequences, but the real test comes when we must decide what to do. What is the greatest protection against making the wrong decision? It is trusting God to take care of us as we choose to do what is right, regardless of the outcome. When we face matters of conscience, we too can do the right things and leave the consequences with God. Le pause for a moment: Let the road be rough and dreary and its end far out of sight foot it bravely, strong or weary, Trust God and do the right, If Gods word guides your conscience Let your conscience be your guide.

OUR TOPIC: Poisonous Substances produces by molds or fungi on agricultural product like corn and peanuts as well as on animal feeds pose great health hazards to human and livestock. These poisonous substances are generally called mycotoxins. In ancient times, people attributed the ravages of fungi to the anger of the Gods. Thus, the Roman even designated a deity, robigus as the God of the rust. To appease his wrath, the organized a festival in his honor, which they called robigaua. The story also goes that a strange and a horrible disease broke out in 1951 in a small village in France called pont-st esprit. The villagers panicked and thought that some evil attacked them, some of them died, as physician did not know what cause the disease. Later, someone recognize the mysterious disease as egotism or St. Anthony's fire which has prevalent in the middle age in northern Europe , particularly in regions where the consumption of bread made of rye was high. In the case of the French village, it was found out that the disease resulted from eating bread made with contaminated flour. The cause of the disease according to my encyclopedia Britannica, was ergot or a fungus. Technically called “Sclerotium” an ergot is a special part of a fungus that develops on plants. Thus, chances are great that your corn grains or peanuts are infected by mycotoxin if these have black powdery filaments attached to them. Aflatoxin is one of the mycotoxins or a poisonous substance produced by molds on food and feeds that pose economic and health hazards.

According to Dr. Ricardo Cachuela, executive director of the Bureau of PostHarvest Research and Extension in the science city of Muños , Nueva Ecija,. Aflatoxin is a poisonous substance produced by molds or fungi on agricultural products. He said this substance has put the agricultural industry at risk due to its severe impact on human and livestock. To avoid the ill effect of aflatoxin it would do well for every body to be familiar with what this poisonous substance is all about.

Fungi and mycotoxins. These two substances are interrelated with each other, however, not all fungi are poisonous as the edible mushrooms are also a fungus. Fungi constitute a group of living organism without chlorophyll and hence depend on other organic matter for their nutrition. A fungus consist of mass branched, tubular or thread like filaments, which are called hyphae or mycelium. It reproduces by means of spores, either sexually or asexually, while the number of fungi are useful, some also are poisonous. For instance yeast and mycelial fungi are important in the fermentation of industrial product like bread, wines and beer, as well as bio-remediations such as the breakdown of tannins in tannery effluents. Fungi are also used in the commercial production of antibiotics, vitamins, enzymes and organic acids. On the other hand some entomogenous fungi can be used for biological control, while others are important in biodegradation and bio deterioration as well as the deterioration of plants debris. Some fungi cause infection or allergic responses in animal like ringworm, plant diseases like late bright of potatoes and contamination of consumer goods by mycotoxins. In food like corn and peanut field fungi may invade before harvest and storage fungi occur after harvest. We have a lot to write about in this subject so well continue next week. Take care, see you then!