Mechanical shelling and dehulling methods were tested to evaluate their impact on Fusarium infection and fumonisin contamination in maize. All shelling methods which were tested were found to damage the grains. The IITA sheller caused the highest level (up to 3.5%) of damage. Fusarium populations were higher on damaged grains, the highest being recorded from grains damaged by the IITA sheller (2,533.3 cfu g(-1)). Fumonisin levels were higher in damaged grains, the highest being in maize shelled with the IITA sheller (2.2 mg kg(-1)). Fumonisin levels were positively and significantly correlated with the percentage of damage caused by the shelling methods, and with the number of Fusarium colonies in maize. Mechanical dehulling methods significantly reduced fumonisin levels in maize, resulting in a mean reduction of 62% for Mini-PRL, 65% for Engelberg, and 57% for the attrition disc mill. It is important for farmers to choose appropriate shelling methods to reduce mycotoxin contamination. Dehulling should be widely promoted for the reduction of mycotoxins in maize.

BACKGROUND In the traditional food sector, the smoking process and smoking‐drying process are widely used to increase the shelf‐life of seafood products. The smoking process and smoking‐drying process are mainly performed using barrel kiln and wood as fuel in many West African countries. The present study evaluated the performances of the barrel kiln and its effects on physicochemical characteristics and safety of smoked fish (SF) and smoked‐dried fish (SDF). Twelve follow‐ups were conducted with three experimental processors and 24 samples of fish collected at different steps of processing were analyzed in a laboratory using standard methods. RESULTS The extreme values of combustion temperature recorded during the smoking process (456.4 °C) and smoking‐drying process (482.8 °C) were higher than 450 °C, the temperature at which wood pyrolysis generates polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Smoked fish were highly contaminated with PAHs, and showed maximal levels of benzo[a]pyrene (52.7 μg kg−1) and PAH4 (i.e. sum of benzo[a]pyrene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene and benz[a]anthracene) (290.9 μg kg−1) exceeding the European Union limits by about 25‐fold. After smoking of Scomber scombrus and smoking‐drying of Cypselurus cyanopterus, no significant differences were recorded for lipid, protein and biogenic amine contents between fresh and processed fish, even if the histamine content of both fish exceeded the limit fixed by the European Union regulation. CONCLUSION The results obtained in the present study showed that smoked fish and smoked‐dried fish produced using barrel kiln and wood fuel are highly contaminated by PAHs. Therefore, there is a need to improve the preservation practices of raw fish and smoking conditions to limit the contamination of end‐products by PAHs known to be carcinogenic components for humans and to ensure consumer safety. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

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The cake, from peanut seeds oil-extraction, is classically used for cattle feed manufacture and fertilizers. It may also well be valorized as crispy patties for human food. Several variants of peanut patties, "kluiklui", rolled into sticks, are very prized in Benin. This passion for patties, coupled with fairly high price of groundnut seeds, incited patties producers to innovative and ingenious manipulations. From then, crude or roasted maize flour was incorporated to replenish many groundnut variants patties. This article is devoted to study influences of applied torrefaction to maize grains giving added flour during formulation of fried groundnut's defatted dough into different variants on some physical (residual humidity, apparent density, volume expansion rate), mechanical (fracture strength) and organoleptic (color, crustiness, taste) properties of the produced patties. The results showed that torrefaction causes significant decrease of residual water content, volume expansion rate and breaking strength, making corresponding patties less crusty and less well-liked by consumers as proven by realized tasting results. However, torrefaction of maize flour also induced increase of the patties apparent density. Nevertheless, the latter was less affected in comparison with the previous three cited characteristics. The groundnut patties variants, blended of maize flour at respective rates of 5% and 10% (weight-in-mix), were the most affected by torrefaction process relatively to recorded feeble breaking strength values and thus, the best prized by patties consumers.

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