Electron beam irradiation to reduce the mycotoxin and microbial contaminations of cereal-based products: An overview

Abstract

The contamination of food commodities in various conditions along the production chain is the point of concern, especially among recent years. While different conventional methods for microbial and mycotoxin decontamination of cereal and cereal-based products were introduced, approaching of newly introduced techniques such as Electron Beam Irradiation (EBI) attracted notable attention. EBI is classified as a non-thermal method for decontamination with several advantages over conventional thermal treatments, including environmental friendly, time effective, and lower detrimental effects on the nutritional value of food products. By contrast, the high needed investment for providing accelerators and low penetration power of the electron beam are among the limitations for the use of EBI in food industries. Importantly, the effectiveness of this method increased when applied in combination with other traditional approaches. In this paper, a review of available data regarding the application of EBI in reducing of the mycotoxin and microbial contaminations of cereal-based products is presented, indicating potential applications of this technique to significantly reduce the microbial load and main mycotoxins, especially when combined with fermentation methods. This promising technology can be considered as one of available alternatives in microbial and mycotoxin decontamination of cereal and cereal-based products.

Keywords: Bacterial load; Emerging technologies; Food safety; Mycotoxins; Secondary metabolites.