A Comprehensive Study To Explore Differences in Mycotoxin Patterns from Agro-ecological Regions through Maize, Peanut, and Cassava Products: A Case Study, Cameroon

Abstract

A total of 420 samples were collected from agrarian households. Whereas 51% (215/420) of the samples were contaminated with one or more toxins, the contamination rates for maize, peanut, and cassava products were 74, 62, and 24%, respectively. The fumonisins (20-5412 μg/kg), aflatoxin B1 (6-645 μg/kg), roquefortine C (1-181 μg/kg), and deoxynivalenol (27-3842 μg/kg) were the most prevalent contaminants in maize. For peanut samples, aflatoxin B1 (6-125 μg/kg) and ochratoxin A (0.3-12 μg/kg) were the main contaminants, whereas aflatoxin B1 (6-194 μg/kg) and penicillic acid (25-184 μg/kg) were detected in the cassava products. Exposures calculated through maize intake for fumonisin B1 and aflatoxin B1 were several-fold higher (2-5 for fumonisin B1 and 10(4)-10(5) for aflatoxin B1) than the health-based guidance values of 2 μg/kg bw/day and 0.15 ng/kg bw/day, respectively. The study design constitutes a good model that can be implemented in other sub-Saharan African countries.

Keeping mycotoxins away from the food: Does the existence of regulations have any impact in Africa?

“…Although there has been a gradual improvement, sub-Saharan Africa has been persistently ranked highest in human undernourishment worldwide with rates estimated between 31% in and 25% in 2011-2013(FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2013. Given the clear evidence of food shortage and high incidence of mycotoxin in food in Africa (Matumba et al, 2014;Adetunji, et al, 2014;Ediage et al, 2014;Mohale et al, 2013;Matumba et al, 2013;Lewis et al, 1995), is there any room for reaching a compromise between achieving food sufficiency and food safety in Africa? …”

“…Based on available occurrence data on these mycotoxins(Doko et al, 1996; Bankole et al, 2013;Mohale et al, 2013;Adetunji et al, 2014 ;Ediage et al, 2014;Matumba et al, 2014a), the above calculated maximum limit would seriously exacerbate starvation in subSaharan Africa if enforced. Perhaps what would make it more complicated is that the climate inDownloaded by [New York University] at 06:52 17 July 2015…”

“…they made reference to maximum torelable guidelines set by international food safety bodies or regulations set by other states(Adetunji et al, 2014;Mohale et al, 2013; Kimanya et al, 2010;Warth et al, 2012;Matumba et al, 2014a, Ediage et al 2014), an indication of little or no improvement at all as regards to the mycotoxin regulatory situation reported in 2003. Perhaps what is also interesting is the absence of fumonisin regulations in South Africa, a country where fumonisin research was pioneered and where there is a clear evidence of high dietary exposures from maize…”

“…al., 2004;Sekiyama et al, 2005, Ediage et al, 2014 4.2. Exposure data, availability of analytical facilities and sampling criteriaAlso critical in risk assessment of mycotoxins is exposure estimation.…”

Leaching of Cyanogens and Mycotoxins from Cultivated Cassava into Agricultural Soil: Effects on Groundwater Quality

“…In soil consisting of fungal biocatalysts of diferent origins, scientiic evidence seems to indicate that agricultural produce appears to be susceptible to spoilage due to substrate availability, which results in the proliferation of microbial spoilage organisms [32,33]. It has also been reported that fruit or produce has trace elements, such as Ca, Na, K and Zn, and low relative molecular weight hydrocarbons, including proteins and moisture, providing conditions which facilitate microbial growth and thus spoilage [34,35].…”