Out of 10 samples of peanuts in the Kenyan market, six are contaminated above the Kenya and US minimum aflatoxin levels, a study has shown.
Also, significant non-compliance and contamination were reported in herbal health drinks, wheat, baby food, feed ingredients, maize and fodder.
The study by the International Livestock Research Institute under the animal and human health programme, which was published last week, also revealed that animal feed was the least compliant, with 64 per cent of the samples having total aflatoxin levels above Kenya and US standards.
The study that sampled 1,818 animal and human foods in leading laboratories in the country, concluded that humans and animals in Kenya appear to be chronically exposed to mycotoxin hazards.
Mycotoxins are naturally-occurring toxins produced by certain fungi and can be found in food. The contamination poses a serious health threat to humans and livestock.
Adverse health effects of mycotoxins range from acute poisoning to long-term problems like immune deficiency and cancer.
The quantitative risk study was conducted on maize, wheat, peanut and dairy products in relation to human liver cancer.
Half of the baby food samples had aflatoxin levels above Kenya and European Union standards, and high non-compliance with Kenya, US and EU regulatory thresholds with respect to seven different Mycotoxins.
“Lifetime human consumption of wheat and maize leads to high additional risk for primary liver cancer, human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with dietary aflatoxin wheat and its products, causing the highest disease burden,” states the study.
It further indicates that exposure to contamination is a risk that calls for surveillance and management.
“There is an urgent need for enhanced and consistent surveillance of the dietary mycotoxin hazards observed in this study employing representative sampling plans,” the researcher recommend.
“Regulation and future research need to focus on reliable analysis techniques, collection of data on toxicological effects of Mycotoxins and food consumption pattern, regulatory limits accordingly set, and compliance enforced to protect vulnerable groups such as paediatric, geriatric and sick members of the society to reduce the cancer burden in Kenya,” the study states.
Last November, research by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service and the Consumer Grassroots Association in Kirinyaga, Kajiado and Nairobi counties revealed that some of the sukuma wiki and peas consumed were laden with harmful pesticides.
The study showed that out of 10 sukuma wiki samples tested, nine (90 per cent) were contaminated with toxic pesticides, toxicity in peas (minji) stood at 76 per cent while capsicum recorded 59 per cent.
The presence of pesticides in the vegetables translates to a high level of exposure for both producers and consumers. The effect is more dangerous for those who don’t cook them well.
Kirinyaga and Kajiado counties were selected for the study because of the high level of production of horticultural crops, while Nairobi was included because of the targeted consumers.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe food containing bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances causes more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancer.
Globally, one in 10 people falls ill after consuming contaminated food and 420,000 die of food-related illnesses every year. Under-fives carry 40 per cent of the food-borne disease burden, accounting for 125,000 deaths.
“Food safety, food security and nutrition are linked. Unsafe food causes diseases, affecting food intake, which, in turn, leads to malnutrition. In the long term, malnutrition affects productivity, physical and cognitive development in children, fuelling a vicious cycle of poverty and food insecurity,” WHO says.
To minimise mycotoxin risk, WHO advises Kenya to avoid damage to grains before and during drying, and in storage as such grain is more prone to mould and mycotoxin contamination.
“Buy grains and nuts as fresh as possible while making sure that the foods are stored properly, kept free of insects, dry, and not too warm, and that one should not keep foods for extended periods of time before being consumed,” it adds.
