Abstract:

As an important ingredient in feed and food, corn is prone to being contaminated by AFB1 during harvesting,
processing and storage. Although several physical, chemical and biological protocols have been established to degrade
AFB1, efficient, safe, economical and environmentally friendly methods remain scarce. In this study, the efficiency of ozone
degradation of AFB1 in corn was explored. The results showed that with increasing ozone concentration and treatment
time, the degradation rates of AFs in corn were evidently elevated. The AFB1 contents in corn with a moisture content of
20.37% plummeted from 77.6 μg/kg to 21.42 μg/kg after 40 min of treatment with 90 mg/L ozone, viz., the degradation rate
was 72.4%. The degradation of AFs in different raw materials by ozone followed first order kinetics. The degradation rate
constants of AFB1 in corn followed the descending order of k90 mg/L > k65 mg/L > k40 mg/L. Kinetics parameters, such as kinetic
equations, reaction rate constants, correlation coefficients and half-life periods, provided valuable evidence for controlling
ozonation under optimum conditions and for clarifying the influence of ozonation on AFB1 in corn. Hence, the findings allow
feasible application of ozonation in degrading AFB1 in corn.

Key words: aflatoxin B1, corn, ozone, degradation, kinetics