A b s t r a c t A r t i c l e I n f oThe objective of this work was to determine the occurrence of mycotoxins like aflatoxin B1and ochratoxin A in a few foodstuffs consumed by the Ivorian population. The levels of AFB1 are higher than the contents of OTA. Dry gumbo is the most contaminated food in AFB1 with an average grade of 71.18 μg/kg. Adjovan has an average AFB1 concentration of 64.65 μg/kg. The levels of AFB1 of cassava are on average 4.17μg/kg. Dried maize is the least contaminated commodity with an average concentration of 2.28 μg/kg. The mean levels of Aflatoxin B1 in the range of 4.17 to 71.18 μg -1 .kg -1 exceed the maximum residue limit (MRL) of 2 μg/kg for cereals and vegetables and 5 μg/kg for spices. The most contaminated samples of ochratoxin A (OTA) samples were dry cassava and adjovan with average concentrations of 0.94 μg/kg and 0.92 μg/kg. Low levels are 0.60 μg/kg and 0.48 μg/kg respectively for dry gumbo and dry maize. These mean OTA values of the samples analyzed are well below the maximum residue limit (MRL) of 5 μg/kg for vegetables, cereals and spices. This study presents the results concerning the safety assessment of a few foodstuffs regarding mycotoxins in Côte d'Ivoire.

The Grand Lahou lagoon system receives numerous spills from inland waters. This results in various forms of chemical pollution. Two species of fish most consumed by the Grand Lahou population are contaminated with high levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). The objective of this study is to reduce the levels of PCBs in both fish species in order to provide consumers with healthy fish. The fish species most contaminated with PCBs, namely a type of catfish called ‘‘machoiron’’ (Chrysichthys sp.) and the mullet (Mugil sp.) were collected according to their weight (category 1:101-200g and category 2: 201-300g). Smoking has been proposed to reduce PCB levels. Thus two smoking techniques were used: smoking the fish traditionally using firewood as fuel and smoking on barbecue with charcoal. The level of PCB contamination in fish was determined by the gas chromatograph coupled with an electron capture detector (GC-ECD). The results obtained show that the smoking techniques used reduce the PCBi content. Wood smoking eliminates 98% of PCBs from fish compared to 88% for charcoal smoking.