Aflatoxin Related Occupational Hazards Among Rice Mill Workers

Abstract

Present study has been designed to find out the airborne mycoflora of the work environment of rice mills where workers are occupationally exposed to these environmental flora with a special reference to isolation and identification of aflatoxin positive Aspergillus strain from the work environment. The study covered altogether three rice mills located at Bawla town in Ahmedabad district (India). Of all the isolates, 27.39 were Aspergillus of which 6.64; were A. flavus. Quantitative evaluation showed the maximum number of isolates recovered from work place (P<0.01) in comparison to office (control). Strains of A. flavus were subcultured onto various qualitative media for identification of toxigenic strain, but none of the strains showed positive result indicating that all the eight strains were non-toxigenic.