Avaliação de métodos para detecção de aflatoxinas em amêndoas e derivados da castanha-do-brasil

Abstract

Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa H.B.K.) is a non-wood product of great socioeconomic and environmental importance. Since 2003, when the European Union rejected several batches of Brazil nuts due to mycotoxin contamination, this has become one of the main problems for their consumption and export. This is mainly due to the climatic conditions of high temperature and humidity that are found in the Amazonian environment, which are ideal for the production of these toxins. Aflatoxins are mycotoxins found in Brazil nuts, produced by Aspergillus fungi, the main ones being Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus nomius. Aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 represent the main groups of these toxins, and are considered carcinogenic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive and teratogenic, and among them, AFB1 is the most toxic. As aflatoxins cause serious problems in human health, regulations established by countries and international organizations to limit aflatoxins in many foods have emerged. As a way to minimize the exposure of these aflatoxins, it is necessary to develop adequate analytical methods that can efficiently verify this contamination in the nuts. Therefore, this work presents the most used analytical techniques to measure and detect aflatoxins, describing the current analytical methods and the latest techniques on non-invasive and rapid detection methods. Through a systematic literature review, with a search in databases such as “Google Academic”, “Scielo”, among others, articles were chosen based on keywords such as “Brazil Nuts”, “Aflatoxins” and “Detection”, and then a systematic assessment was carried out based on nuts and their properties, socioeconomic impact, classification and development of toxins, as well as means of detoxification, methods used to detect aflatoxins, their functionality and quantification. Over time, several analytical methods have been developed and improved, most of which include chromatographic methods, most notably high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Pointing to the cleaning of the immunoaffinity column (IAC) together with the measurement by HPLC, coupled with the fluorescence detection (HPLC FLD), being the most efficient technique to detect aflatoxins according to the parameters of the legislation. Recently, liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS / MS) seems to be the most promising technique for the analysis of multiple mycotoxins. A variety of immunological methods, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and other rapid antibody-based tests, are widely used for screening purposes as these methods require confirmatory analysis. Other techniques that have shown promise are non-destructive optical techniques such as spectroscopy and imaging technology (such as hyperspectral imaging) and other experimental methods such as biosensors. Due to the development of new analytical techniques, it is expected that the methods of detection and analysis of aflatoxin will continue to improve over time. In recent decades, faster and more sensitive methods have been gaining attention, so it is necessary to carry out more tests, and more research, to produce better results.