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

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to determine the occurrence and level of aflatoxins (AFs) contamination in freshly harvested maize for human consumption in rural Kenya. Maize kernels and freshly milled maize flour (n = 338) were collected from households in Siaya and Makueni counties. While both counties are representatives of different environmental and climate conditions, Makueni County is the area with reported outbreaks of aflatoxicosis. Samples were analysed for AFB₁, AFB₂, AFG₁, and AFG₂ using Ultra High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence detection. AFs were detected in 100% of the samples with the range of 2.14–411 µg/kg. The geometric mean of total AFs in all samples from Makueni County is 62.5 μg/kg with 95% CI: 53.7, 71.4 while in Siaya County is 52.8 μg/kg with 95% CI: 44.0, 61.7. This study showed that AFs contamination is prevalent in maize-based foods in the region.

KEYWORDS:

• Aflatoxins
• AFB₁
• total aflatoxins
• household maize
• rural Kenya

Acknowledgments

We thank the county governments and communities in Siaya and Makueni counties for supporting this study. We also thank all participating school administrations and field assistants without whom this work may not be possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Fieldwork and data collection was supported through small grants from the University of Georgia namely Interdisciplinary and Innovative Research Grant and the Tipton Golias Travel Award. Laboratory analyses were supported by grant ECG-A-00-07-00001-00 from United States Agency for international Development Feed the Future Program Peanut and Mycotoxin Innovation Laboratory. The funders had no role in the design of the study, data collection, laboratory analyses, manuscript draft, data interpretation and the decision to publish results.