*3.3. Fungal Strains*

*Aspergillus flavus* NRRL 21,882 (Afla-Guard), in which the entire AF biosynthetic gene cluster was deleted, was used as a non-aflatoxigenic strain [28,31] for the recovery experiments. The food-grade *Aspergillus oryzae* RIB40 [29], *A. oryzae* M2040 [28], and *A. oryzae* NRRL 3483 were used as non-aflatoxigenic strains. The aflatoxigenic strain *A. flavus* NRRL 3357 was used as a positive control, as it is a well-known AFB1 and AFB2 producer in lab and fields [3]. In addition, *A. parasiticus* NRRL 2999 was used as a positive control for AFB and AFG production [32]. All fungal strains were maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium (containing 4 g potato starch, 20 g glucose, and 15 g agar in 1 L of distilled water) at 4 ◦C. This medium, which has a high carbohydrate content and an acidic pH (5.1), was selected because it enhanced mold growth and aflatoxin production [28]. To prepare inoculum for these fungi, all were grown on PDA for 7 days at 30 ± 2 ◦C. *A. parasiticus* NRRL 2999 was grown on PDA for 7 d at 25 ± 2b ◦C. Spores were harvested from individual cultures using 0.1% Tween-80 solution. Asexual spores (conidia) were counted with a hemocytometer, and numbers were adjusted to 1 <sup>×</sup> <sup>10</sup><sup>8</sup> conidia/mL with sterile RO water. Fungal spore suspensions were stored at 4 ◦C and used within one week of preparation.
