Seventy composite samples of maize grains stored in five agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Nigeria where maize is predominantly produced were evaluated for the presence of microbial metabolites with the LC-MS/MS technique. The possible relationships between the storage structures and levels of mycotoxin contamination were also evaluated. Sixty-two fungal and four bacterial metabolites were extracted from the grains, 54 of which have not been documented for maize in Nigeria. Aflatoxin B1 and fumonisin B1 were quantified in 67.1 and 92.9% of the grains, while 64.1 and 57.1% exceeded the European Union Commission maximum acceptable limit (MAL) for aflatoxin B1 and fumonisins, respectively. The concentration of deoxynivalenol was, however, below the MAL with occurrence levels of 100 and 10% for its masked metabolite, deoxynivalenol glucoside. The bacterial metabolites had low concentrations and were not a source of concern. The storage structures significantly correlated positively or negatively (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05), respectively with the levels of grain contamination. Consumption of maize grains, a staple Nigerian diet, may therefore expose the population to mycotoxin contamination. There is need for an immediate action plan for mycotoxin mitigation in Nigeria, especially in the Derived Savannah zone, in view of the economic and public health importance of the toxins.

The chemical properties of the high quality cassava-tigernut composite flour, as well as the physical and quantitative descriptive sensory properties of the extruded snack therefrom, were investigated. Extruded snacks were procesed from different blends of high quality cassava flour (HQCF) and tigernut composite flour at the ratio of 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, 40:60, 30:70 and 20:80, 100% HQCF and 100% tigernut flour. The extrudates were produced using a single screw laboratory extruder at constant feed moisture (27%), screw speed (60 rpm) and barrel temperature (80 • C). Addition of tigernut flour improved some chemical and physical qualities of the extrudates and the study concluded that an acceptable extruded snacks can be produced from high quality cassava-tigernut flour blends.

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The effect of some processing parameters (frying temperature [140–160°C], frying time [2–4 min], level of brewers' spent cassava flour (BSCF) [20–40%], and thickness [2–4 mm]) on some quality attributes of wheat‐BSCF fried snack was investigated. Response surface methodology based on Box–Behnken design was used to optimize the effect of process parameters on product quality. Sensory evaluation of the optimized sample to determine its level of acceptability was carried out as well as the comparison with fried snack from 100% wheat flour. Increasing temperature had significant (P < 0.05) negative effect on the texture. Based on the desirability (0.771) concept, a frying temperature of 140 °C, frying time of 4 min, 32% level of BSCF, and 2 mm thickness was obtained as the optimized conditions. Sensory analyses showed that the optimized sample was preferred in terms of texture and its oiliness to fried snack prepared from 100% wheat flour, but, the aroma, taste and appearance of the wheat snack were preferred.

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