Los Banos, CA (December 5, 2025) — A team from UC Santa Cruz’s iGEM program recently unveiled a promising new method aimed at removing one of the world’s most dangerous food toxins.
The 2025 UCSC iGEM team spent a year working on “safeTEA,” a synthetic-biology approach designed to detoxify aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) from water-based solutions. AFB1 is a mycotoxin known to contaminate grains, nuts, and other foods, and exposure can lead to serious health problems, including liver and kidney damage, birth defects, and even cancer.
As part of their “human practices” research, the students visited an almond-processing facility operated by RPAC Almonds in Los Banos, where they spoke with workers and management to understand practical food-safety challenges in real-world production. These conversations helped shape safeTEA’s design, ensuring the project remains grounded in local food-processing realities, not just lab theory.
Although safeTEA requires more research before being shelf ready, their findings and prototype show promising potential. If fully developed, safeTEA (or similar detoxification methods) could offer an affordable, scalable way for nut, grain and juice producers in the Central Valley to reduce mycotoxin contamination, protecting both public health and the region’s agricultural economy.
For Los Banos and the broader Merced–Central Valley community, the significance is clear: as a hub of agricultural processing, the region stands to benefit from scientific innovation that enhances food safety.
