Aflatoxins in Ethiopia

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Aflatoxins in Ethiopia

• Alemayehu Chala (PhD, Hawassa University)
• Usha Kulkarni (PhD, Mekelle University)

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Background
Ethiopia

• 18 major and 49 sub agro-ecological zones
• Various crops are produced

EARO, 1999
Total crop production (2008/09) 17.12 million
tones on 12.4 million ha (11.3 of total area)
Total crop production (2010/11) 22.5 million
tones on 13.5 million ha
Very low productivity
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Aflatoxins affect at all levels of value chain
systems
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Status of Aflatoxin in Ethiopia

• Endemic in the country, due to predisposing pre
  and post harvest factors
• Frequent end season drought (soil water stress)
• Lack of resistant varieties???
• Harvesting methods
• Storage facility and conditions (sanitary level,
  pest, moisture level.)
• Low or limited knowledge of Aflatoxin by value
  chain actors
• Lack of regulation framework and monitoring
  facilities both at National and Regional level-
  Zero protocols, standards and regulations
• Limited research/lab facilities and trained
  personnel

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Institutions with food safety related activities

• Ministry of Agriculture
• Ministry of Health
• Ethiopian Standards Authority
• Institute of Nutrition
• Food processing industry
• Universities and research institutes

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Recent activities in Ethiopia

• Survey
• Laboratory analysis of samples
• Mycological
• Toxin analysis
• Field experiments

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Laboratory capacity

• Hilina Food Processing Company
• Ethiopian Standards Authority
• Nutrition Institute
• Universities??

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Earlier reports

• A mean levels of aflatoxin B1 of 34.7 and 105
  µg/kg in samples of groundnut and peanut butter,
  respectively (Besrat Gebre, 1981)
• Aflatoxin levels of 5 to 250 µg/kg in groundnut
  seeds (Ayalew et al., 1995).

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Total aflatoxin contamination of samples from
East Ethiopia (Chala et al., 2013)
District Positive sample Negative sample Total
Babile 34 5 39
Darolabu 35 5 40
Gursum 24 17 41
Total 93 27 120
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Aflatoxin concentration in groundnut samples from
East Ethiopia (Chala et al., 2013)
District Store (µg/kg) Market (µg/kg)
Babile 293 - 11,865 15 - 9765
Darolabu 15 - 4939 15 - 1977
Gursum 15 - 5563 16 - 10087
EU limit 4 µg/kg FAO/WHO 15 (µg/kg)
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Total aflatoxin level in selected groundnut
varieties in southern Ethiopia (Chala et al.,
2012)
  Aflatoxin (ppb) Aflatoxin (ppb)  
Variety No. of fields Range Mean
NC-4x 6 0-2.13 0.78
NC-343 5 0.66-3.14 1.71
Roba 6 0-5.97 2.04
Sedi 9 0-2.96 0.62
Lote 7 0-2.68 0.85
Bulki 7 0-12.71 3.01
Werer-961 6 0-14.81 2.96
Werer-962 5 0-7.36 2.33
Werer-963 5 0-1.82 0.30
Werer-964 7 0-4.72 1.80
Tole-1 9 0-3.38 0.57
Tole-2 6 0-3.14 0.77
Fayo 5 0-14.08 3.85
Fetan 6 0-7.86 2.74
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Conclusion and recommendation

• Total aflatoxin recorded from each of the survey
  districts exceeds international standards
• The current results should also serve as a wakeup
  call to create awareness on the aflatoxin problem
  in the country and possible remedies
• Such studies will contribute to understand the
  full extent of the problem and also to work on
  appropriate control measures

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Conclusion and recommendation cont.

• Regular monitoring/ surveillance is needed
• PACAs role
• Contribute in developing standard protocols for
  the region
• More awareness creation to improve the perception
  towards toxigenic fungi and associated mycotoxins
  

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Conclusion and recommendation cont.

• Focus on
• Adjusting planting and harvesting dates
• Sanitation of fields and stores
• Sorting out damaged kernels
• Proper storage conditions
• Biological control
• Education and regulation for safe groundnut
  production and processing

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Metabolites present in sorghum samples (N70 for
Sorghum and 34 for finger millets)
Analyte Sorghum Finger millet
Major mycotoxins and derivatives 16 11
Fusarium metabolites 17 13
Aflatoxin precursors 8 8
Alternaria metabolites 6 6
Other Aspergillus metabolites 11 7
Penicillium metabolites 11 5
Unspefic metabolites 11 8
Bacterial metabolites 4 4
Total 84 62
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Opportunities and Invitation to PACA

• Design a model of integrating Agriculture,
  Nutrition and Public Health (consumption level)
  and Hospital based strategies to combat
  Aflatoxins
• Private Public Partnership /investments in
  sophisticated infrastructure to manage outbreaks,
  monitor health risks, establish regulations and
  standards
• Role of universities in PACA- Systematic research
  and dissemination
• Filling up Critical Capacity Buildings in the
  area of FOOD SAFETY
• Deepening of awareness of all stakeholders right
  from communities to Policy makers Awareness
  creations
• Strategies for Integrated approach to develop
  capacity of Health Extension Workers
  Agriculture Extension Workers
• Assessment

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Aflatoxins Control in Ethiopia from Nutrition and
Health Perspective

• Nutrition Education Programs and capacity
  building of Health Extension Workers and mothers
  development army at the community level
• Behavior change Communication strategies and IEC
  materials combined with Awareness Creation
  campaigns
• Inclusion of course materials on dangers of
  Aflatoxins on children, Opportunistic infections
  with HIV aids into Public health/Nutrition
  curriculum
• Nutrition Screening, cooking/recipe demonstration
  and low cost diagnostic nutrition and food
  science lab in conjunction with Agriculture
  research in Aflatoxins
• Designing One Health Concept Human and Animal
  Nutrition to control
• Hospital based studies in determining aflatoxin
  level using human blood biomarkers

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Thank You