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Report reveals foods that give you cancer
The report indicates that maize has the highest level of aflatoxin contamination among foods for human consumption, with a prevalence of 56 percent. PHOTO / FILE
What you need to know:
- The report underscores significant health risks and economic impact posed by mycotoxins and emphasises widespread contamination in both infant and adult foods.
A report tabled by the House committees on Agriculture and Health has highlighted wide-ranging health effects and economic impact on Ugandans as a result of the dangers of mycotoxins.
Mycotoxins are toxic compounds naturally produced by various fungi. They can grow on crops before or after harvest. They typically appear on foodstuffs, including cereals, nuts, spices, dried fruits, and coffee. This is usually under warm and humid conditions.
“The cultivation of crop residues and planting of seed infected by mycotoxins increases the prevalence of these pathogens in the soil which have a negative effect on seed germination and inhibits both root and stem growth,” the report, which lists aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxins, deaxynivalenol/vomitixin and zearalenone as “the common mycotoxins” reads in part.
Infant foods
The report also lists which infant foods are most prone to aflatoxins. These include maize/ soy fish that “had the highest prevalence of mycotoxins at 20-50 [parts per billion or] ppb.” the World Health Organisation (WHO) works in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations in assessing the risks to humans of mycotoxins.
“The maximum levels for mycotoxins in food are very low due to their severe toxicity. For example, the maximum levels for aflatoxins set by the Codex in various nuts, grains, dried figs and milk are in the range of 0.5 to 15 µg/kg (a µg is one billionth of a kilogramme)”, WHO notes on its website, adding, “Exposure to mycotoxins needs to be kept as low as possible to protect the people. Mycotoxins not only pose a risk to both human and animal health, but also impact food security and nutrition by reducing people’s access to healthy food.”
Referencing a study undertaken by Makerere University’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), the report also makes clear that other infant foods with high aflatoxins include “whole millet and imported corn flakes at 10-20ppb, nkejje flour [and] 10-16ppb.” Cerelac, it adds, “had no aflatoxins.”
Adult foods
WHO “encourages national authorities to monitor and ensure that levels of mycotoxins in foodstuff on their market are as low as possible.” The parliamentary report shows that a joint study by the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) and National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI) on groundnuts, cassava, maize, sorghum, and animal feeds in the central, northern, and eastern parts of Uganda elicited red flags.
“The results revealed that among the foods for human consumption, maize had the highest level of aflatoxin contamination at 56 percent followed by groundnuts at 55 percent, sorghum was at 53 percent, and dry cassava at 27 percent,” the report notes, adding, “For animal feeds (mycotoxin levels above 20ppb), cattle feeds had 45 percent, sow weaner, chicken and chick mash 40 percent, rabbit pellets 29 percent, broiler starter and layers mash at 25 percent and dog food at six percent.”
The report also noted that CAES’s 2010 study discovered that eshabwe, a highly consumed delicacy in southwestern Uganda “had the highest level of mycotoxin prevalence at 18.6ppb. It was followed by cassava at 16ppb, sorghum at 15. ppb, millet at 14ppb and groundnuts at 11.5ppb.”
Climatic and environmental factors, inappropriate agronomical practices, poor post-harvest handling of produce and non-regulated grain trade in Uganda are listed as some of the major causes of mycotoxin prevalence in Uganda.
Implications
The report that was tabled in the House by Ms Janet Grace Okori-Moe, the chairperson of the Agriculture committee, revealed that Uganda annually loses at least Shs146.57 billion due to mycotoxins. This is quantified in terms of export opportunities and other spheres. Mycotoxins also cause liver cancer, impair the human immune system, and impede sound plant growth.
The report faults the snail-pace processes of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) in testing and releasing results of foods suspected to contain mycotoxins.
“Long turnaround time by UNBS to test and release results (five to seven days) increases cost of the trucks, cost of driver maintenance and loss of clients due to long supply times,” the report reads in part.
The slow turnaround time also increases the country’s disease burden, especially liver cancer.
“Uganda Cancer Institute receives 170 to 200 liver cancer cases per year (incident cases) and 48 to 56 of the new cases of liver cancer at the institute result from aflatoxin exposure. This amounts to Shs3.12 billion to treat 200 liver cancer patients annually,” the report states in part.
Besides causing cancer and impairing the human immune system, mycotoxins also cause water contamination thereby making production of safe water costly.
“Mycotoxigenic fungi such as Rhizopus, Fusarium, Alternaria, Aspergillus and Penicillium in drinking water are harmful to public health as they may cause cancer and impair the human immune system,” It added that “when mycotoxins go into water for human consumption, they cause contamination, thereby lowering its quality. This increases the costs of production of safe water for human consumption.”
It also impedes proper seed germination and plant growth of crops cultivated on soils with residues of crops that were previously infected by mycotoxins. “The cultivation of crop residues and planting of seed infected by mycotoxins increases the prevalence of these pathogens in the soil which have a negative effect on seed germination and inhibits both root and stem growth,” the report reads in part.
What's at stake
Poisonous instances—known as acute aflatoxicosis—may occur if someone consumes aflatoxins in excess.
“Aflatoxicosis is poisoning that results from ingestion of aflatoxins in contaminated foods. Acute toxicity results when someone consumes a high level of a-aflatoxins in a very short time,” the report states, adding that mycotoxins were also found to pose pharmacological and physiological implications which include “increased incidences of adverse reactions, immune suppression, therapeutic failure, alteration of the nervous system, interference with hormones, negative effect on the reproductive system and risk factor for resistance to fungal treatment.”
Mycotoxin exposure done by “Gulu University to assess the level of mycotoxin exposure in northern Uganda targeting four grains—sorghum, maize, groundnuts and millet—[in] the districts [of] Gulu, Nwoya, Kole, Oyam, Omoro, Kitgum, Pader and Lamwo […] found that “sorghum grains were the most susceptible to mycotoxin contamination, whereas millet had the lowest mycotoxin levels.”
