Feasibility of a novel on-site detection method for aflatoxin in maize flour from markets and selected households in Kampala, Uganda

Alex Paul Wacoo, Deborah Wendiro, Sarah Nanyonga, Joseph F. Hawumba, Wilbert Sybesma, Remco Kort*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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 µg/kg and limit of detection (LOD) of 0.7 µg/kg. The maize flour samples from the markets had a mean total aflatoxin concentration of 7.6 ± 2.3 µg/kg with approximately 20% of the samples higher than 10 µg/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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number327
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalToxins
Volume10
Issue number8
Early online date11 Aug 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2018

Funding

Funding: This research was funded by the Uganda Industrial Research Institute, VU University Amsterdam, TNO and the Yoba for Life foundation.

FundersFunder number
Uganda Industrial Research Institute
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Yoba for Life Foundation

    Keywords

    • Aflatoxins
    • ELISA
    • Households
    • HPLC
    • Immunosensor
    • Maize
    • Markets

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