Effectiveness of hand sorting, flotation/washing, dehulling and combinations thereof on the decontamination of mycotoxin-contaminated white maize

Abstract

Maize is one of the major staple foods of Sub-Saharan Africa and is consumed as whole or dehulled grain. In this region, where the environmental conditions favour fungal growth and mycotoxin production, the majority of the population are subsistence consumers who, unfortunately, have little or no access to mycotoxin testing of their food. In an attempt to develop feasible reduction strategies in dietary mycotoxin exposure of the population, a three-factorial design experiment was conducted to examine and compare the efficacy of hand sorting, flotation, dehulling and combinations thereof in removing naturally occurring aflatoxins, fumonisins, nivalenol, deoxynivalenol and alternariol in shelled white maize. Regression analysis was used to determine the significant (p < 0.05) process variables on the removal of mycotoxins from the maize. Results from this experiment indicated that hand sorting had the greatest effect on mycotoxin removal, while flotation yielded the least effect. In particular hand sorting left < 6% of aflatoxin B1 and < 5% of fumonisin B1. Based on these results, hand sorting of maize grains is being recommended as a last line of defence against mycotoxin exposure among subsistence consumers.

Development and validation of ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry methods for the simultaneous determination of beauvericin, enniatins (A, A1, B, B1) and cereulide in maize, wheat, pasta and rice

“…These toxins can enter the food chain directly through contaminated food or indirect through the presence of contaminants in food of animal origin derived from animals, which were fed with contaminated grains. Even though several pre-and post-harvest efforts such as sorting, kernel and hand sorting are made in order to prevent and control bacteria and fungi, the produced toxins can remain active even after very harsh treatments [1]. In addition, the toxins are stable under the most common conditions used in food processing and can consequently be found in the prepared products [2,3].…”

Biological control of aflatoxins in Africa: current status and potential challenges in the face of climate change

“…In addition, some of those technologies are out of reach for use in developing countries. For example, automated sorting of discoloured kernels, which may contain high aflatoxin concentrations, is a helpful aflatoxin management tool for highly profitable industries (Matumba et al, 2015;Pelletier and Reizner, 1992) but as of today, it is not a feasible option to either small industries or resourcepoor farmers. Manual sorting of discoloured kernels is performed by smallholder farmers who try to sell their healthy looking kernels at a higher price (Matacic, 2016), but often keep the sorted kernels for their own consumption because of lack of knowledge of the effects of aflatoxins or because of food scarcity.…”

Impact of fungicides and weather on cyclodepsipeptide‐producing Fusarium spp. and beauvericin and enniatin levels in wheat grains

“…tillage systems, pesticide treatment and storage conditions). The impact of these factors has been investigated in detail for common Fusarium mycotoxins such as trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol, DON), fumonisins and zearalenon . However, contrary to the wealth of information on these well‐known mycotoxins, detailed information on the prevalence and impact of weather and agricultural practices on cyclodepsipeptides is rather scarce.…”

“…The impact of these factors has been investigated in detail for common Fusarium mycotoxins such as trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol, DON), fumonisins and zearalenon. [2][3][4] However, contrary to the wealth of information on these well-known mycotoxins, detailed information on the prevalence and impact of weather and agricultural practices on cyclodepsipeptides is rather scarce. In addition, these mycotoxins are not routinely determined or subjected to regulation, due to lack of background information for a proper risk assessment.…”