Prevalence of Aflatoxin Contamination across the Food Value Chain for Maize and Groundnuts in Uganda

Florence Tushabe¹*, Samuel Mwesige², Okoth Thomas³, Ivan Kasamba⁴ and Areu David⁵

¹Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology, Soroti University, Uganda
²Department of Biochemistry, School of Health Sciences, Soroti University, Uganda
³Uganda Industrial Research Institute, Uganda
⁴Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Uganda
⁵Soroti University, Uganda

*Corresponding Author: Florence Tushabe, Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology, Soroti University, Uganda

Received: March 22, 2023; Published: April 11, 2023

Abstract

Background: Maize and groundnuts are some of the most highly contaminated foods on the Ugandan market. Since 2006 there have been some scattered studies on the prevalence of aflatoxin contamination among these grains. However, there were no recent studies of 2022 to highlight the status of aflatoxin contamination.

Methods: Grain samples were collected from two highest producing districts that is Masindi and Soroti districts; and across the value chain, from farmers to wholesalers, retailers, processors and restaurants/homes. The samples were tested using ELISA method and the prevalence calculated.

Results: Aflatoxins were detected in 45% and 30% of maize and groundnuts, respectively. Contamination increases over the value chain from 31% at farm level, to 42% at table level. In general, contamination was highest among processors at 43%, followed by restaurants (42%), wholesalers (40%), farmers (31%) and retailers at 29%.

Keywords: Aflatoxins; Prevalence; Maize; Corn; Groundnuts; Gnuts; Uganda; Value Chain

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Citation

Citation: Florence Tushabe., et al. “Prevalence of Aflatoxin Contamination Across the Food Value Chain for Maize and Groundnuts in Uganda". Acta Scientific Agriculture 7.5 (2023): 22-27.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Florence Tushabe., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.