Uganda is an agrarian country where farming employs more than 60% of the population. Aflatoxins remain a scourge in the country, unprecedentedly reducing the nutritional and economic value of agricultural foods. This review was sought to synthetize the country’s major findings in relation to the mycotoxins’ etiology, epidemiology, detection, quantification, exposure assessment, control, and reduction in different matrices. Electronic results indicate that aflatoxins in Uganda are produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus and have been reported in maize, sorghum, sesame, beans, sunflower, millet, peanuts, and cassava. The causes and proliferation of aflatoxigenic contamination of Ugandan foods have been largely due to poor pre-, peri-, and postharvest activities, poor government legislation, lack of awareness, and low levels of education among farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers on this plague. Little diet diversity has exacerbated the risk of exposure to aflatoxins in Uganda because most of the staple foods are aflatoxin-prone. On the detection and control, these are still marginal, though some devoted scholars have devised and validated a sensitive portable device for on-site aflatoxin detection in maize and shown that starter cultures used for making some cereal-based beverages have the potential to bind aflatoxins. More efforts should be geared towards awareness creation and vaccination against hepatitis B and hepatitis A to reduce the risk of development of liver cancer among the populace.

Uganda is predominantly an agricultural country where farming employ more than 60% of the population. Aflatoxins remain a scourge in the country, unprecedentedly reducing the value of agricultural foods and in high enough exposure levels, implicated for hepatocellular carcinoma, stunted growth in children and untimely deaths. This review synthetizes the country’s major findings in relation to the mycotoxin’s etiology, epidemiology, detection, quantification, exposure assessment, control and reduction in different matrices. It also highlights some of the management strategies for aflatoxin control that could be adopted in Uganda. Review results indicate that aflatoxins in Uganda is majorly produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus and have been reported in maize (Zea mays L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.), sesame (Sesamum indicum), beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), sunflower (Helianthus annus), millet (Eleusine coracana), a bovine milk-based product, peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) and cassava (Manihot esculenta) with the highest content reported in cassava, beans and peanuts. The causes and proliferation of aflatoxigenic contamination of Ugandan foods have been largely due to poor pre-, peri- and post-harvest activities, poor government legislation, lack of awareness and low levels of education among farmers, agri-entreprenuers and consumers on the plague. Aflatoxin B1 is the most prevalent aflatoxin in Uganda. There is still limited research on aflatoxins in Uganda because the surveillance, reduction and control carry prohibitive costs. A few exposure assessments have been done especially in human sera and dependence on a single or a related set of foods with little diet diversity has exacerbated the risk of exposure to aflatoxins in Uganda because most of the staple foods are aflatoxin-prone. On the detection, control and reduction, these are still marginal, though some devoted scholars have devised and validated a sensitive portable device for on-site aflatoxin detection in maize as well as shown that starter cultures used for making some cereal-based beverages have the potential to bind aflatoxins. More effort should be geared towards awareness creation through training of farmers and traders in the cereal value chain as well as developing capacity to monitor aflatoxins. Vaccination against Hepatitis B and Hepatitis A should be emphasized to reduce the risk of development of liver cancer among the populace.

Aims:To determine the potential of sweet sorghum (Epuripur 1995) and the effect of organic biostimulators: NPK fertilizer, cow dung and sewage sludge in remediation of petroleum oiladulterated soils from a garage in Kampala Metropolis, Uganda. Place and Duration of Study: The contaminated soils were obtained from New Katanga Boys automobile repair workshop in Wandegeya, Kampala, Uganda. Experiments were conducted Omara et al.; AJACR, 3(1): 1-10, 2019; Article no.AJACR.48785 2 between Methodology: 50 kg of petroleum oil-contaminated soils were collected from the garage and divided into 5 kg portions; four portions were potted with four sorghum grains with three subjected to 5% w/w amendment using NPK fertilizer, cow dung and sewage sludge under normal growth conditions for 72 days. Representative soil samples were collected from spots at 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm from the potted soils and subjected to Soxhlet extraction. Growth parameters (leaf surface area, root mass and mass of sorghum heads) of the potted plants were measured. Results: The sorghum plants grew normally and survived in the petroleum-contaminated soils. Sorghum potted in contaminated soil without any amendment did not flower. Amendment of the vitiated soils with NPK fertilizer, cow dung and sewage sludge biostimulated the phytoremediation capacity of sorghum by 9.1%, 12.5% and 6.3% respectively. Conclusion: Addition of cow dung to spent-oil contaminated soils could make such soils fully reestablished for agricultural activities. Further research should assess the chemical properties of the investigated vitiated soils and the effectiveness of other biostimulants such as vermicompost in biostimulating phytoremediation by Sorghum bicolor. The potential of other cereals such as corn, barley, rye and millet in phytoremediation of petroleum-adulterated soils should be investigated. Original Research Article

Aims: To investigate the effects of continuous deep fat frying of white (Irish) potatoes on the physical and chemical attributes of ten brands of edible cooking oils: Fortune Butto, Roki, Tamu, Best Fry, Mukwano, Golden Fry (hard oils); Sunseed, Sunny, Sunvita and Sunlite (soft oils) sold in Kampala, Uganda. Place and Duration of the Study: Oil samples of approximate manufacturing dates were obtained from Mega Standard supermarket in Greater Metropolitan Kampala, Uganda. Oil samples were also obtained from local Irish potato fryers in Makindye division of Kampala during ten deep frying cycles. Irish potatoes was procured from Nakasero market, Kampala. Physicochemical analyses were performed at the Quality Control Laboratory of Mukwano Industries Limited, Kampala Industrial area, Kampala. The research was conducted between May 2018 to December 2018. Methodology: 400g of Irish potato slices (1cm × 1cm × 3cm) were submersed in 1500mL of oil maintained at 140°C for 6 minutes in an Electric Deep Fryer with a frying time of 10 minutes.The color value (CV) and the acidification of the oils as free fatty acid (FFA), peroxide value (POV), paraanisidine value (AnV), iodine adsorption value (IV) and total oxidation (TOTOX) value before and between ten successive frying cycles were determined using ISO and AOCS official methods.The maximum number of reuses of an oil was estimated from the frying round before its POV or AnV surpassed the maximum permissible statutory or Codex Alimentarius limit for edible oils. Results: For fresh oils, the statistical physicochemical parameter ranges were: CV (0.4R 3.4Y-7.7R 70Y), FFA (0.0430±0.30-0.1508±0.30), POV (0.5951±0.03-6.6134±0.23 meqO2/Kg),                AnV (0.90±0.01-4.30±0.19) and IV (57.62±0.17-128.35±0.02gI2/100g). By the 10th fry, the ranges were CV (3.0R 23Y-20.4R 70Y), FFA (0.2286±0.01-0.4817±0.01), POV (11.1138±0.01-15.7525±0.01meqO2/Kg), AnV (10.31±0.03-22.16±0.01) and IV (53.66±0.01-126.03±0.02gI2/100g). Considering oxidizability as TOTOX values, frying stability of the selected brands of cooking oils during the frying cycles followed the order: Roki > Fortune Butto > Sunvita > Sunny > Sunlite > Mukwano > Tamu > Best Fry >  Golden Fry > Sunseed. Conclusion: Reuse of the oils for continuous frying of Irish potatoes on the same day can be done only up to 7 times on average for hard oils and 6 times for soft oils with the oils still regarded as safe for human consumption. Hard oils should be preferred to soft oils for deep frying of Irish potato chips.Further research should elucidate the variation of physicochemical properties of other oil brands on the Ugandan market such as Nile, Fortune, Kimbo, Star Fry, Cow boy and Ufuta and should use other food samples such as fish, cassava, chicken, sweet plantain, dough, meat and edible grasshoppers.

The overwhelming demand of oil and fats to meet the ever increasing needs for biofuel, cosmetics production, and other industrial purposes has enhanced a number of innovations in this industry. One such innovation is the use of microorganisms as alternative sources of oil and fats. Organic solid waste that is causing a big challenge of disposal worldwide is biodegradable and can be utilized as substrate for alternative oil production. The study evaluated the potential of isolated yeast-like colonies to grow and accumulate oil by using organic solid waste as substrate. Of the 25 yeast-like colonies isolated from the soil samples collected from three different suburbs in Kampala district, Uganda, 20 were screened positive for accumulation of lipid but only 2 were oleaginous. The NHC isolate with the best oil accumulation potential of 48.8% was used in the central composite design (CCD) experiments. The CCD experimental results revealed a maximum oil yield of 61.5% from 1.25 g/L cell biomass at 10 g/L of solid waste and temperature of 25°C. The study revealed that organic solid waste could be used as a substrate for microbial oil production.