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9-19.

219-226.

**Chapter 14**

**Characteristics of Mycotoxin Analysis Tools for**

Aflatoxins difuranocoumarin derivatives are produced by fungi *Aspergillus flavus, Aspergil‐ lus parasiticus and Aspergillus nomius* [1] and they are part of the group of mycotoxins. From the twenty metabolites that have been formed endogenously in animals, aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2) are the most common and the most toxic. The names of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2 are based on their florescence characteristics. Aflatoxin B1 and B2 show strong blue fluorescence under UV light, whereas aflatoxins G1 and G2 exhibit greenish yellow fluorescence [2]. All the aflatoxins have been classified as carcinogenic com‐ pounds for humans, but AFB1 has been tagged as the most dangerous, highly toxic, immu‐ nosuppressive, mutagenic, and teratogenic compound and its effects have been identified as well. Also, malabsorption syndrome and reduction in bone strength may occur due to AFs consumption. Aflatoxins not only have adverse effects on human health but also cause seri‐ ous economic losses when tons of foods have to be dropped or destroyed for being contami‐

To ensure food's safety, the maximum level of aflatoxins in food has been set by internation‐ al organizations. For each kind of aflatoxin a minimum quantity of concentration is allowed,

> © 2013 Contreras-Medina et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 Contreras-Medina et al.; licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Alejandro Espinosa-Calderon, Carlos Duarte-Galvan,

**Tomorrow**

Luis Miguel Contreras-Medina,

Rafael Francisco Muñoz-Huerta, Jesus Roberto Millan-Almaraz,

Irineo Torres-Pacheco

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51683

**1. Introduction**

nated with AFs.

Arturo Alfonso Fernandez-Jaramillo,

Ramon Gerardo Guevara-Gonzalez and

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter
