Perception and Attitude of Parents towards Aflatoxins Contamination in Complementary Foods and Its Management in Central Tanzania

Socioeconomic Characteristics Influencing Level of Awareness of Aflatoxin Contamination of Feeds among Livestock Farmers in Meru District of Tanzania

“…Farmers with higher level of education (≥secondary education) were twice more aware that aflatoxins do occur in feeds than those with lower education. This result concurs with finding of other studies showing that people with higher education have higher chances to be informed and more aware of risky factors in food than people with less education [ 16 , 17 , 31 ]. In another similar analogy, [ 27 ] found that people with secondary and tertiary education were more aware of aflatoxins in foods and feeds than those of lower education.…”

“…For instance, there was logical increase of proportion of farmers with knowledge of aflatoxins with advancing stages of education. Influence of high education and academic exposure to life or social sciences in promoting awareness of aflatoxin contamination was also reported by other researchers [ 16 , 17 , 31 ]. The implication is that education level has direct and indirect (through other socioeconomic characteristics such as employment and occupation) positive influence on awareness of aflatoxin contamination.…”

“…Studies done in many localities indicate that levels of awareness of aflatoxins are low. Some of the documented levels are, for example, 25% in Vietnam [ 12 ], 6% in Zimbabwe [ 13 ], 12% in The Greater Addis Ababa milk shed of Ethiopia [ 14 ], and 20% in Tanzania [ 15 , 16 ].…”

“…In Vietnam, young farmers (at age of 21–29) were found more informed of aflatoxins in crops than the older groups [ 12 ]. In Tanzania, researches [ 16 , 17 ] have shown that education level has positive effect on aflatoxin awareness. In Ghana, it was [ 18 ] found that field of study particularly life sciences has positive impact on aflatoxin awareness.…”

Parents’ Practices and Barriers in Reducing Aflatoxins Contamination in Complementary Foods for Children in Central Regions of Tanzania

“…In a study conducted by Ngoma et al [42] 82.0% of the parents were not aware of aflatoxin contamination in complementary foods and its health effects. Recent findings [43] also indicate that parents who are responsible for preparation of complementary foods in the central regions of Tanzania do not fully perceive aflatoxins as being harmful to human and animals and their attitude towards their control was low, in general.…”