Aflatoxin Contents and Exposure in Young Children, and Sensory Characteristics of a Nixtamalized Supplementary Porridge

Aflatoxin contamination of maize, is of major concern in Malawi, and levels are much higher than the tolerance limits for aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxins. Maize is a staple for Malawians and the forms prepared for consumption are presumed to have carryover toxins.  Likuni phala; a porridge flour formulated from maize and soybean in the ratio of 4:1(w/w), was developed as a supplementary food to alleviate Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM), which is highly prevalent  in under five year old children. It is assumed that the product is contaminated with carryover aflatoxin. Nixtamalization or alkali cooking has been found to reduce aflatoxin contents among other effects. The aim of this study was to establish the levels of total aflatoxin in the Likuni phala, determine their reduction in porridge preparation by addition of alkali, assess the exposure to aflatoxin in small children and also test for its sensory acceptability. Samples were collected from three factories, two cottage and one large, all located in districts of the Southern Region of Malawi. Three samples were collected from each factory at two week intervals. The samples were analysed for total aflatoxin, then cooked into porridge with addition of lime at levels between 0.1% – 0.8%. The porridges were analysed for aflatoxin and subjected to sensory evaluation. Exposure to aflatoxin on the children was also calculated.  Results showed that aflatoxin was absent in the samples from the cottage industries, but all the three samples from the large factory contained levels above the tolerance levels (10µg kg-1 for total and 5µg kg-1 for Aflatoxin B1). Cooking with alkali reduced the levels of aflatoxin to below the tolerance levels even at the lowest level of alkali addition. Sensory evaluation showed that the porridges were acceptable only up to 0.4% lime addition. The potential aflatoxin exposure to children was substantially reduced. The study concluded that acceptable Likuni phala porridge with aflatoxin levels below the tolerance levels, and substantially reduced exposure in children can be prepared by cooking with alkali addition. Keywords: Aflatoxin, Supplemental maize porridge, Nixtamalization, acceptability, Under 5 children

Value chains to improve diets: Diagnostics to support intervention design in Malawi

Governments and development partners looking to accelerate progress in addressing malnutrition have been examining how to use interventions in value-chains to improve diets. However, the links between interventions in value chains and diets involve a range of direct and indirect effects that are not yet well understood. We apply a mixed-method multisectoral diagnostic to examine potential interventions in food systems to improve diets of smallholder farmers in Malawi. We examine entry points for interventions involving public and private-sectors, and explore the methodological requirements for undertaking this type of multisectoral analysis. We find that although food consumption is dominated by maize, a range of nutritious foods are also being consumed; including leafy greens, fruits, chicken, dried fish, dried beans and peas, and groundnuts. Yet important deficits in nutrient intake remain prevalent in low-income households due to inadequate quantity of consumption. While increasing consumption through own-production is one potentially important channel to increase quantity of nutritious foods available (particularly fruits and leafy green vegetables), markets also play a potentially important role. Nutritious foods are available on markets year-round, although strong seasonality impacts the availability and price of perishable products. For beans, peas and groundnuts, supply appears to be available throughout the year, with price fluctuations relatively controlled due to storage capacity and imports. The capacity of markets to supply safe and nutritious food is limited by a number of issues, including poor hygiene; lack of infrastructure for storage and selling; limited information on nutrition, and weak coordination among sellers and producers. Other bottlenecks include: on-farm constraints for expanded production, consumers with limited purchasing capacity, intense competition among sellers and few services for sellers to increase volume of product sold during peak demand. The diagnostics identify the role of information-related interventions to optimize decisions related to food choices, involving a range of different foods and value-chains, that could potentially lead to short- and medium-term improvements in diets. Longer-term and more resource-intensive interventions are also identified, such as improving capacity for product differentiation, processing, storage, and market infrastructure across a different range of food chains, so as to maximise coherence between short- and long-term planning. The findings highlight the benefits of applying a strategic, food systems-based approach of identifying specific and complementary actions for both the public and private sectors that can improve the diets of low-income populations