Climatic conditions in the tropics along with late harvesting of crops and inadequate storage are conducive to mycotoxin contamination. Seen in corn grown in the midwest. When fed to animals, very little made its way into muscle. Current preharvest approaches including irrigation, application of fungicides and insecticides and use of resistant crop varieties have not been overly effective at controlling aflatoxin contamination. Genetic enginering and biological control are being considered.
Most infection is at post-harvest.
Prevention of Aspergillus infection of foods is the most desireable method to reduce aflatoxin. Some methods being used include early identification and segregation of grossly contaminated kernals of corn or peanuts. Also, FDA has approved decreasing absorption in livestock with inorganic absorbent feed additives. The size of the aflatoxin cluster and the conservation of genes strongly suggest that aflatoxins play a key role in the life cycle or survival of the fungus. Restoration of function by complementation restores normal development.