Risk Assessment of Aflatoxins in Maize-Groundnuts Complemen-tary Foods Consumed by Ghanaian Infants

Abstract

Background: Complementary foods are given to infants when breast milk alone becomes insufficient in meeting their nutritional needs. The major objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of Aflatoxins (AFs) in Weanimix complementary foods purchased from shops in Accra (Ghana), and to estimate risk of liver cancer development in infants. 
 Methods: In total, 32 samples of Weanimix were purchased from shops in Accra, an urban centre and analyzed for AFs by Reverse-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). Previously published data on levels of AFs in Weanimix prepared in rural households were also collected. The data was analyzed to estimate infants’ daily exposure to AFs as well as the risk of liver cancer development.
 Results: AFs levels of 18.8% of samples were above the maximum permitted limit of 10 µg/kg. The minimum and maximum levels of total AFs detected in all samples were 2.51 and 98.87 µg/kg, respectively with a mean value of 16.43 µg/kg. Exposure assessment showed that the minimum and maximum daily AFs exposures were 0.044 and 2.805 µg/kg bw/d, respectively for Weanimix from rural households; these rates for Weanimix purchased from urban shops were 0.014 and 0.55 µg/kg bw/d, respectively. The chances of liver cancer development would increase to 0.6 per year if infants were fed on Weanimix prepared in rural households with minimum AF level of 7.9 µg/kg.
 Conclusion: The infants fed on Weanimix prepared in rural households would be at a higher risk of AF exposure and liver cancer development than infants fed on Weanimix purchased from urban shops of Ghana.

Exposure and risk characterizations of ochratoxins A and aflatoxins through maize (Zea mays) consumed in different agro-ecological zones of Ghana

“…The Estimated Daily Intakes (EDI) of total aflatoxins in the maize samples recorded by Kortei et al 2 were 109.7, 58.8, 33.08, and 25.2 μg/kg bw/day for infants, children, adolescents, and adults with Margin of Exposure (MOE) values of 4.73, 8.79, 15.63 and 20.51 respectively. Exposure assessment carried out by Omari and Anyebuno 95 showed that the minimum and maximum daily AFS exposures were 0.044 and 2.805 µg/kg bw/day, respectively for weanimix (infant complementary food prepared from maize) for rural households; these rates for complementary food purchased from urban shops were 0.014 and 0.55 µg/kg bw/day, respectively. The chances of liver cancer development would increase to 0.6 per year if infants were fed with complementary food prepared in rural households with a minimum AF level of 7.9 µg/kg.…”

Exposure assessment and risk characterization of aflatoxins intake through consumption of maize (Zea mays) in different age populations in the Volta Region of Ghana

“…Previous work by some researchers (Kumi et al, 2014;Blankson and Mill-Robertson 2016;Opoku et al, 2018;Omari and Anyebuno 2020;Tuffour and Steele-Dadzie, 2019) in Ghana, revealed some evidence of the incidence of acute aflatoxicosis in children presumably via infant complementary foods. This troubling and uncomfortable situation stems from the overreliance and seemingly inevitable use of the two most frequently fungus-contaminated foodstuffs, maize, and groundnuts as ingredients for the preparation of complementary foods (porridges) for infants, children, and toddlers (Achaglinkame et al 2017;Kortei et al 2021a).…”

Survey of knowledge, and attitudes to storage practices preempting the occurrence of filamentous fungi and mycotoxins in some Ghanaian staple foods and processed products

“… Food products Mycotoxin detected Fungus References Maize grains (whole) Aflatoxins Aspergillus flavus 57 – 59 Ochratoxins Aspergillus carbonarius, Penicillium verucosum Maize powder Aflatoxins A. flavus 12 , 60 , 61 Fermented maize Fumonisins Fusarium verticillioides 62 – 64 Aflatoxins A. flavus Kenkey Aflatoxins A. flavus 60 Ice kenkey Aflatoxins A . flavus 65 Weanimix cereals Fumonisins Fusarium verticillioides 66 Aflatoxin A. flavus 67 Maize-groundnut mix Aflatoxins A. flavus 68 Dry cassava products Aflatoxins A. flavus 47 Kokonte Aflatoxins A. flavus 47 ...…”