This work considered the presence of potassium bromate in thirty different bread brands baked in Port Harcourt metropolis of Rivers State, Nigeria. The analysis was carried out in two locations of South and North, Port Harcourt metropolis with fifteen samples for each. The study revealed the presence of potassium bromate in all the samples 0.025-0.058 mg/Kg and 0.011-0.059 mg/Kg for south and north respectively. It also revealed the mean to be 0.048±0.010 mg/Kg for south and 0.041±0.008 mg/Kg for the north, Apart from one of the samples (B10analyzed, the concentrations ranged from), all the values were above the allowed limit by NAFDAC. The result showed that both locations have bakeries that use bromate content higher than permissible limit. It is therefore advisable that consumption of bread from the study area may be of harmful effect due to bioaccumulation over a period of time.

The levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in contaminated farmland soil from three oil-producing communities (Oboburu, Obagi, and Ogbogu) in Egi, Niger Delta were assessed for variability, origin and health risks. The result showed that tPAHs of Oboburu were 1344±1685 mg/kg for carcinogenic while BaP (257.3±270.5 mg/kg) had the greatest value. Obagi had 4154±3461 mg/kg for cPAHs with BkF (861.5±543.7 mg/kg) having the greatest amount. Ogbogu was 354.7±360.7 mg/kg for total cPAHs while BgP (104.1±141.8 mg/kg) had highest amount. The dominant PAHs were BbF, BkF, DbA, BaP, IdP and BgP. The principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the PAHs were majorly of pyrogenic and petrogenic origin. The predicted risk due to PAHs in soil for children showed tPAHs was 1.68E-2, with high risk for BaP (9.05E-3), IdP (5.05E-3), BbF (1.63E-3) and BkF (1.04E-3), while the adults estimation showed tPAHs was 1.13E-2 and high risk were for BaP (2.30E-3), IdP (1.08E-3) and BkF (2.57E-4). These values are more than the limit of the US EPA risk management criterion (10-6 to 10-4) where management decisions should be considered. The trend indicated that their presence in the environment makes it unsafe for the dwellers.

The study was to identify the source and evaluate the health risk of heavy metals in contaminated agricultural soil from Egi community (Oboburu, Obagi and Ogbogu), Niger Delta, Nigeria. Multivariate and health risk equations were employed to achieve this. The mean of heavy metals in samples of Oboburu indicated high levels for Fe (271.0±156.6 mg/kg), Pb (111.2±94.97 mg/kg), and Mn (27.92±23.80 mg/kg), Obagi was high for Fe (248.4±175.9 mg/kg), Mn (80.46±12.40 mg/kg), and Co (116.3±193.7 mg/kg), and Ogbogu was high for Fe (160.9±150.3 mg/kg), Co (240.1±412.1 mg/kg), and Mn (42.90±16.82 mg/kg) respectively. Geo-accumulation index indicated that Pb, Cd and Co was of high contamination and the enrichment factor showed that metals were of anthropogenic sources. The Principle component analysis revealed three (3) components accounting for 88.448%, which revealed that the contamination in the sample was more of anthropogenic than biogenic. The Cancer Risk estimate for children population was of high risk for Ni, Cr, Cd and Pb (10-5 to 10-6) while adult population was 10-6 and lower. The non-carcinogenic risk indicated highest value for children in Co (2.75), Pb (1.70E-1) and Fe (1.32E-1), while adult in Co (1.007) and Fe (3.29E-2). The findings suggest human activities have contributed greatly to the contamination of the agricultural soil and usage of such may be of risk to the users.

The effects of variety and germination time on β‐glucan components – total β‐glucan (TBG), water insoluble β‐glucan (WIBG) and water soluble β‐glucan (WSBG) and β‐glucanase (BG) levels – before and after malting in improved sorghum varieties SK5912, KSV8 and ICSV400 and their relationships to wort specific viscosity (SV) were studied. This study was part of efforts to aid local malting and brewing industries in the application of sorghum varieties that are abundantly available to reduce costs. At the fifth day of germination, variety ICSV400 had the lowest TBG, WIBG and WSBG levels in its raw and malt samples. Variety SK5912 had the highest TBG, WIBG and WSBG levels in its raw samples, while variety KSV8 had the highest levels of TBG, WIBG and WSBG in its malt samples. Similarly, variety ICSV400 malts developed the highest BG levels, while the KSV8 malts gave the lowest level. The effect of variety, germination time and variety × germination time interaction was significant (p < 0.05) on the TBG, WIBG and BG levels and was not significant on the WSBG levels. Weak and significant correlation of TBG levels with SV (0.25, p < 0.05 for SK5912; 0.24, p < 0.05 for KSV8; and 0.31, p < 0.05 for ICSV400) was observed in all the samples, suggesting that the low β‐glucan levels may not be primarily and solely responsible for any viscosity impediments associated with sorghum worts during run‐off. With improvement in the effective utilization of sorghum, ICSV400 appeared the most suitable variety for malting and brewing in Nigeria.Copyright © 2016 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling

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