**5. Concluding Remarks**

Considering the data from several studies carried out until now, it may be observed that mi‐ croorganisms, among them lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, have a huge potential application in aflatoxin degradation in foodstuffs. However, new studies are necessary to identify bacte‐ rial species with greater binding potential with aflatoxins, once there are differences in sen‐ sitivity and selectivity, besides the influence of factors that are intrinsic and extrinsic to the bacteria in the decontamination process. After this step of choosing species with greater effi‐ ciency has been overcome, new production technologies that are economically viable to be applied to human and animal foods may be developed.

Several studies have demonstrated that the cell wall of SC and LAB and their components are responsible for binding with aflatoxins. However, the mechanisms by which this bond occurs remain unclear. Cell walls with glucomannanes and manno-oligosaccharides have been pointed out as the responsible elements for AFB1 bond with yeasts. The great advant‐ age in the commercial use of these microorganisms as binding agents is that these strains are approved and already used in a wide range of fermented food products, being recog‐ nized as safe. However, aflatoxin may be released from the cell-aflatoxin complex with changes in the pH and temperature conditions. Therefore, further studies are necessary to determine the behavior of yeasts in the different environmental conditions before they are used commercially.

## **Acknowledgements**

The authors wish to acknowledge the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) of Brazil for financial support and fellowships.
