Feasibility of A Novel On‐Site Detection Method for Aflatoxin in Maize Flour from Markets and Selected Households in Kampala, Uganda
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Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Toxins
Abstract
In sub-Saharan Africa, there is a high demand for affordable and accessible methods for on-site detection of aflatoxins for appropriate food safety management. In this study, we validated an electrochemical immunosensor device by the on-site detection of 60 maize flour samples from six markets and 72 samples from households in Kampala. The immunosensor was successfully validated with a linear range from 0.7 0.1 to 11 0.3 g/kg and limit of detection (LOD) of 0.7 g/kg. The maize flour samples from the markets had a mean total aflatoxin concentration of 7.6 2.3 g/kg with approximately 20% of the samples higher than 10 g/kg, which is the maximum acceptable level in East Africa. Further down the distribution chain, at the household level, approximately 45% of the total number contained total aflatoxin levels higher than the acceptable limit. The on-site detection method correlated well with the established laboratory-based HPLC and ELISA-detection methods for aflatoxin B1 with the correlation coefficients of 0.94 and 0.98, respectively. This study shows the feasibility of a novel on-site detection method and articulates the severity of aflatoxin contamination in Uganda.
Description
Keywords
Aflatoxins, Maize, Households, Markets, Immunosensor, HPLC, ELISA
Citation
Paul Wacoo, A., Wendiro, D., Nanyonga, S., Hawumba, J. F., Sybesma, W., & Kort, R. (2018). Feasibility of a novel on-site detection method for aflatoxin in maize flour from markets and selected households in Kampala, Uganda. Toxins, 10(8), 327. doi:10.3390/toxins10080327