Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

[Tim-HJ61 Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tim-HJ61]

All,

News about the collection and reuse of cooking oil in China is doing the media rounds today. China cracks down on cancer cooking oil | The Daily Telegraph is one article.

Of concern to me was mention of Aflatoxin as it is supposed to be 'present in waste cooking oil'.

At http://health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=...91&template=24 I found this general description:

Aflatoxin contamination is caused by growth of the moulds Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, which are commonly found in soils. They are usually benign, but under favourable growing conditions (appropriate temperature and humidity) the moulds infect peanuts which may result in high levels of aflatoxins. Contamination can occur both pre-harvest and post-harvest. For effective monitoring, the peanut crop is regularly tested throughout the manufacturing process. Aflatoxins are potent toxins and are known carcinogens, especially affecting the liver.

Given this is a carcinogenic organism, what happens to it when we burn it, stick our hands into it, breathe it up?

The information I have found this morning using sources such as Wikipedia have eased my concerns and I have found that:

• Yes, Aflatoxin is carcinogenic
• It is caused by a fungus that attacks a variety of oil seed crops
• It is generally removed by the initial processing of the oil and the mould/toxin is kept in the mash.

I have NOT found any historical reference to Aflatoxin being ADDED as part of the cooking process. i.e. if Aflatoxin was present in the original virgin oil, then it is likely to be transferred to the waste. The process of cooking does not cause, nor add to the level.

Good quality oil does not contain Aflatoxin to unsafe levels as it is food grade and covered by Australian Food Standards. From the Australian Food and Grocery Council Nutrition and Health Guide comes:

The last ATDS confirmed the overall safety of the Australian food supply and demonstrated that pesticide residues, metals and selected antibiotics, and aflatoxins are either absent or present in low amounts well within the safety limits.

and http://health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=...91&template=24

Continual surveillance from the farm gate to the table, by industry and government authorities is intended to ensure that the risk of contaminated peanuts reaching the consumer in Australia is minimised

I'm no organic chemist and fully appreciate there may be other evidence that differs from my quick search this morning. Does anyone have any evidence this is something we need to be concerned about?

References:
Aflatoxin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aflatoxin total synthesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How to Process Oilseed on a Small Scale - Howtopedia - english
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&so...MJvT56Y5xNpcZA
http://health.act.gov.au/c/health?a=...91&template=24



Tim

[83Patrol Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close 83Patrol]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

I remember reading somewhere that aflatoxins are rendered harmless by heating and/or cooking. Don't know where, could be wrong.

Going on a bit of a tangent, I believe that we should be concerned about the use of most vegetable oils (in our cars and bodies), full-stop. It's been known for a long time that heating inherently unstable oils (mainly polyunsaturates) can be very dangerous from a health perspective.

Here's a page that may be of interest:

The Skinny on Fats

Be prepared, though. It flies in the face of what we have been told by the authorities and 'experts' about fats & oils for the last few decades - basically since the mid-1900's. For the millions of years before all these modern processed 'healthy' oils were pushed onto consumers, people survived fine on traditional fats & oils. Then again, it might make immediate sense if you look at it from that perspective.

As DJ has said before, there are many parroted veg mantras and myths out there... maybe not only in relation using it in combustion engines.

[Tim-HJ61 Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tim-HJ61]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

I agree Dave.

I thought it would be helpful to check out the insinuation that waste VO has aflatoxin - as per the multiple news articles that all say the same thing.

Waste cooking oil contains carcinogenic Aflatoxin

What I found confirmed that if we use oil that originally passed Australian food grade standards, then we have nothing to be concerned about.

Tim

[Captaincademan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Captaincademan]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

I may be reading off the wrong sheet here, and I really dont know a lot about the subject, but I was under the impression that all oils both veg, mineral and synthetic, become increasingly toxic and carcinogenic with increasing numbers of heat cycles? Is there any truth or even vague truths relevant here?

[Nuddy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nuddy]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

We should consider the relative risks of burning vegetable oils compared to burning mineral oils. I imagine that burnt or partially burnt distillate may be more harmful than burnt or partially burnt vegetable oil. No evidence but it sure smells worse.

[neil Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close neil]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

Surely if this was a big issue we would have thousands of fish and chip owners dropping dead.

[83Patrol Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close 83Patrol]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

We should consider the relative risks of burning vegetable oils compared to burning mineral oils. I imagine that burnt or partially burnt distillate may be more harmful than burnt or partially burnt vegetable oil. No evidence but it sure smells worse.

I imagine the same. I agree about the smell.

Although I don't think it's the enviro-friendly, non-toxic panacea that some believe it is. The fact seems to be that burning veg oil can be quite harmful.

[Lozzer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lozzer]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

83Patrol,
I found the article that you linked to fascinating and thank you. It certainly fits well with my understandings and personal experiences.
I also found this article on ve emissions and its not what I really wanted to hear although I believe it may apply more to palm oil and rapeseed rather than the ve we most commonly use here. Hope there's a difference! The article claims higher emissions for finer particles, NOx, hydrocarbons, Carbon Monoxide and formaldahyde from burning ve. I hope someone has some countering info.
http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/docs/...lic_health.pdf

Laurie

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Aflatoxins - should we be concerned?

OK,
I will try to defuse some fears raised by this article.

• NOx. emissions are higher for Biodiesel engines when the engine is timed for using diesel fuel. There need to bne more tests to check whether this is the case for engines set up for biodiesel. I recall one, but can't locate it at the moment.
• CO. CO from burning vegetable oil or biodiesel is much lower than the CO produced by a petrol car at any load settings. You cannot gas yourself by running the exhaust of a diesel into the car, unless it is running at full load. There is an immense excess of air in the exhaust at most other power settings and especially at idle.
• This paper does not compare the emissions of PMs from biodiesel, or Veggie oil, to emissions of PMs when using diesel.

  It is not clear whether or in how far Particulate Matter emissions from vegetable oil burning differ from those from mineral oil or diesel burning. There is some evidence that they are very similar, although in one trial they appeared to be higher.

I will add more later, we are out for tea.

Bye 4 now,

Tony