Aflatoxin in household maize for human consumption in Kenya, East Africa

Worldwide aflatoxin contamination of agricultural products and foods: From occurrence to control

“…Of 140 samples analyzed, 52% were contaminated with aflatoxin at levels beyond the Nigerian Regulatory limit. Surveys in Burundi, Togo, and Kenya (Hanvi et al., 2019; Nabwire et al., 2020; Udomkun et al., 2018) reported similar contamination levels. As detailed in Table 2, these high incidence rates and levels are not uncommon in sub‐Saharan Africa, where one of the most severe mycotoxin‐poisoning incidents in the last decade occurred (Chemining'wa et al., 2009).…”

Human Security and Sustainable Development in East Africa

“…In East Africa, as with much of the African continent, a growing population coupled with contamination of food supplies and changing weather patterns driven in part by climate change is increasingly exacerbating food insecurity and driving resource competition, which in turn contributes to other human security challenges such as resource-based conflict among others East African Community [EAC], 2020; Nabwire et al, 2020;Waithaka et al, 2013). According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food security refers to "a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" (FAO, 2001 p. 49).…”

Update on mycotoxin contamination of maize and peanuts in East African Community Countries

“…Mycotoxins are secondary toxic metabolites of fungi that contaminate food in many different parts of the world with far-reaching consequences on human and animal health in addition to causing enormous economic losses [4][5][6][7][8]. Several studies have reported high mycotoxin levels in maize and peanuts from the East African community region [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Major mycotoxins of concern in maize and peanuts are Afl atoxins (AFT), Fumonisins (FBs), Zearalenone (ZEN), and Deoxynivalenol (DON) which are mainly produced by Aspergillus sp and Fusarium sp as shown in Table 2 [2,[16][17][18][19].…”

“…J Food Sci Nutr The 7(1): 001-010. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17352/jfsnt.000026 can occur when the crops are still in the fi eld as well as after harvesting, during processing, handling, transportation, and storage [13,20,21]. Other factors such as grain damage by birds or insects and poor postharvest handling and storage also greatly contribute to high mycotoxin occurrence in food [22][23][24][25][26][27] Table 2. who consume contaminated maize and yet go unconsidered [2].…”

“…The average total afl atoxins and AFB 1 contamination levels were 77.9 ± 64.3 ppb and 76.2 ± 63.9 ppb respectively which is higher than the 10 ppb and 5 ppb limits for total afl atoxins and AFB 1 in EAC countries. Both maize and maize fl our samples were unfi t for human consumption[13].High afl atoxin contamination surpassing the acceptable limit of 10 ppb set by EAC Countries was reported in peanut samples in Kenya [45,61]. A study on afl atoxin contamination of peanuts in two Districts in western Kenya (Busia and Homabay) reported afl atoxin contamination levels as high as 2687.6 The high incidence of afl atoxins in peanut butter was attributed to using defective ground nuts contaminated with afl atoxins to make peanut butter but could have also increased due to bad processing habits such as poor hygiene at the grinding mills, poor storage of roasted groundnuts before grinding as well as spreading roasted groundnuts on the fl oor or open-air cooling before grinding.…”