ASSAY FOR AFLATOXINS IN SOME LOCAL FOOD CONDIMENTS

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites with toxicological properties that induce a variety of health challenges when foods contaminated with these compounds are ingested. Aflatoxins are stable under most food processing conditions and therefore persist to the final products. Fresh samples of thirty two food condiments comprising of four each of Pleurotus tuber regium (Osu), Piper guineense (Uziza), Xylopia aethiopica (Uda), Monodora mystrica (Ehuru), Citrullus vulgaris (fermented mellon), Ricinus communis (Ogiri) Brachystegia eurycoma (Achi) and Origanum syriacum (Offor) were assayed for fungi and presence of aflatoxins. The mean fungal counts range from 1.2 x 104 in Pleurotus tuber regium to 8.2 x 109 in Brachystegia eurycoma. Eight fungal spp were identified to include Aspergillus, Penicillium, Candida, Mucor, Rhizopus, Geotricum, Saccharomyces and Fusarium. Aflatoxin assay by RIDA quick aflatoxin kit detected two samples of Brachystegia eurycoma and a sample of Origanum syriacum with concentrations ≥ 20ppb. The best protection against mycotoxins is monitoring their presence in foods and feeds, therefore, regular and routine analysis of food samples for possible presence of mycotoxins is recommended. Education and training of food handlers is imperative, adoption of GMP and HACCP application in food condiment preparation will curtail fungal contamination and mycotoxin production in foods and feed product