Aflatoxins in Mozambique: Etiology, Epidemiology and Control

Abstract

Abstract:Mozambique is endemic to aflatoxigenic Aspergillus but the country has to heavily rely on foreign research to deduce what is happening locally. There is some information produced by local scholars and institutions but it needs to be "tied" together. This review briefly synthetizes the country's major findings in relation to the toxin's etiology, epidemiology, detection and control, discussing and meta-analyzing them as far as they allow. The causes and commodities affected are the same as in most tropical countries; the toxin is widespread and the level of exposure is high. Regarding the control, it is still marginal but some institutions have driven efforts in this direction. Learning from other countries is still the best approach to take, as the solutions are probably the same for most places.

Pre-harvest host-resistance to Aspergillus infection and aflatoxin B1 contaminations in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genotypes

“…In contrast, AFB1 was detected on nearly 47 % of the studied groundnut genotypes (G1, G2, G6, G9, G12, G14, G16 and G17) with the lowest (G14, 13.98 ppb) and highest (G12, 1990.86 ppb) concentrations. Alarmingly, none of these records was below the maximum permissible limit (10 ppb) of African AFB1 standards [ 28 , 29 ]. Thus, it is commendable to exclude aflatoxin susceptible genotypes from the breeding program unless they have special desirable/elite traits and used as a testing materials.…”

Mycotoxins in Mozambique: Need for a national monitoring programme

“…Data regarding mycotoxins in Mozambique date from 1960 after a survey was conducted in the Inhambane Province (1960)(1961)(1962)(1963)(1964)(1965)(1966)(1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)(1973)(1974)) that correlated the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma and AFs contamination in the most consumed maize and groundnuts. 9,[39][40][41][42][43][44] The content of all mycotoxins ranged from 63 µg/kg to 1126 µg/kg. 45 Another AF survey on groundnuts (Arachis hypogaea L.) carried out in the Nampula and Cabo Delgado Provinces during December of 2015/2016 showed a content of total AFs ranging from 2 to 30 µg/kg and 5 to 35 µg/kg, respectively.…”

A Glance at Aflatoxin Research in Mozambique

“…Some scientists are focused on the toxin’s epidemiology [14,48,49,50], pathology [51], risk management [52,53], some on intervention or legal issues [54,55,56,57], and several technical reports show improvements in some detection methods [58,59,60] or biological control [61,62,63,64]. There seems also to be an increasing trend on aflatoxin M 1 (AFM 1 ) [65,66], though it still seems “underrated” given its relevance for infant and general public health.…”