*2.3. Biological Treatments*

Biocontrol showed high efficiency in the prevention of AFs formation in the preharvest stage when non-aflatoxigenic biological control strains are inoculated in the fields and competed with aflatoxinenic strains of *Aspergillus* for nutrients and place and causing their exclusion [110,111]. The studies discussed in this section aimed to mitigate the already formed mycotoxins in feeds and foods by biological treatments and not to prevent their formation in crops (Table 3).

Most studies about the mitigation of mycotoxins by biological means focused on the treatment of liquid food or milk [32,33,112], assessing the effect of yeast, bacteria, or their enzymes on the mycotoxins in buffers or solutions [30,113,114]. Biological detoxification could be the result of binding the targets by adsorption mechanisms or by degradation. This detoxification of mycotoxins can be conducted using microorganisms (bacteria, biofilm, or yeast) or their metabolites and enzymes [115]. In this section, we screen various studies using biological control strategies to mitigate the mycotoxins in solid food and feeds (Table 3).

ZEN-detoxifying *bacillus* strains were used to detoxify highly contaminated maize with an initial concentration of 5 mg kg−<sup>1</sup> of ZEN. The degradation of ZEN is related directly to the esterase activity, which has been found in all tested strains, with the maximum activity in B1 and B2 strains. The highest ZEN degradation rate was attained in B2 strains, reaching 56%. B2 strains showed their efficiency in the detoxification of other mycotoxins with different rates—AFB1: 3.8%, DON: 25%, FB1: 39.5%, T2 toxin: 9.5%. The presence of ZEN enhanced the fermentation process of the contaminated maize compared to the non-contaminated grains [116].

CotA laccase is found in the endospore coat of *Bacillus*. It protects spores from UV light and hydrogen peroxide and has an oxidizing capacity. CotA laccase was immobilized onto chitosan microspheres and used to degrade ZEN in artificially contaminated cornmeal samples. The free CotA laccase form achieved a degradation rate of 70%, while the immobilized form was faster and more effective, achieving a higher degradation rate reaching 90%. The most important advantage is the reuse of the immobilized enzyme. Guo et al., showed that the degradation rate decreased to 54% following multiple uses of the immobilized CotA laccase in the third cycle, reaching only 21% in the fifth one [117]. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were used to mitigate mycotoxins in wheat-based products. The *Pediococcus acidilactici* LUHS29 strain achieved the highest reduction rates of mycotoxins when used alone in sourdough fermentation for 48 h. It removed 15-AcDON, AOH, D3G, toxins H-2 and HT-2, completely removed ENNB1, and reduced the DON by 44–69%. The combined fermentation using this LAB with *Lactobacillus Plantarum* LUHS135 strain showed great efficiency and increased the reduction rate of DON to 79–100% [118]. In a study conducted by Alberts et al., enzymatic detoxification was examined using Fumonisin Esterase FumD to degrade FB in maize. This enzyme can hydrolyze and remove the tricarballylic acid groups when added to maize during the conditioning step (for 250 min) during the dry milling process. The use of 40 U/kg of FumD in maize resulted in a 99% degradation of FBT in total hominy feed but did not accomplish any degradation of FBT in super maize meal [119].

The fungal growth and/or the mycotoxin production was controlled in bread using specific yeast strains and achieving reduction rates varying between 16.4 and 33.4% for DON, 18.5 and 36.2% for NIV, and 14.3 and 35.4% for ZEA [120]. The heat treatment of peanut samples at 100 ◦C for 15 min before solid-state fermentation by *Zygosaccharomyces rouxii* showed great efficiency in the mitigation of AFB1, and the reduction rate reached 97.52% [121].


*Foods* **2022**, *11*, 3304

*Foods* **2022**, *11*, 3304

**Table3.***Cont.*
