Fumonisins exposure from freshly harvested and stored maize and its relationship with traditional agronomic practices in Rombo district, Tanzania

Abstract

The exposure to fumonisins from the maize harvest of 2006 (before and after sorting and storage) for 67 families was assessed along with its statistical association with agronomic practices in Rombo, Tanzania. Fumonisins were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and exposure estimated based on 60 kg body weight and maize intake of 356 g per person day⁻¹. Based on contamination in the unsorted maize, exposure for 27% of the families would exceed the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake of 2 µg kg⁻¹ body weight. The odds ratio of fumonisin exposure from maize hybrid 614 (H614) were: two times higher compared with non-H614 maize (p = 0.089); and five times higher when the maize was grown without fertilizer (p = 0.004). Sorting maize before storage reduced the percentage of families with unacceptable exposures to 6%. Therefore, the results imply that planting of the non-H614 seeds using fertilizers combined with pre-storage sorting of maize significantly minimizes fumonisins exposure in Rombo. A field experiment to verify these findings is needed.

Keywords:

• exposure assessment
• fumonisins
• maize

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the managements of the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority, Rombo district and Tarakea division, for their support and guidance during the implementation of the study. In addition, appreciation goes to Gladness Kanza, Neema Kassim, and other staff who helped analyse the samples and to Stephen Otchere who entered the agronomic data. The authors thank the International Foundation for Science (IFS) (Grant no. AE 16031IR), Nutrition Third World (NTW), and the Belgium Technical Cooperation (BTC) for funding this study.