Mycotoxins contamination in foods consumed in Uganda: A 12-year review (2006–18)

Abstract

Mycotoxins are secondary fungal metabolites with a potential to have adverse effects on humans and animals. The rationale of this review was to examine the current status of mycotoxins in Uganda and the problems associated with these toxins. The commonly studied mycotoxins in Uganda are aflatoxins and fumonisins with aflatoxin B1 being the most prevalent. The review has shown that aflatoxin contamination reduces economic growth by 0.26% in Uganda owing to decline in productivity. Uganda loses 577 US million dollars annually as a result of 3700 aflatoxin-induced liver cancer cases. Aflatoxins contamination of sorghum, maize and peanuts causes a decline in exports valued at 7.48 US million dollars which accounts for 45% reduction in total agricultural exports. There are no fully developed strategies for the control of mycotoxins contamination in food and food products in Uganda. Regulations for monitoring foods susceptible to aflatoxins contamination should be put in place and strict measures on the quality of food at both household and market levels be enforced by all policy makers. Keywords: Aflatoxins, Foods, Contamination, Cancer, Nutrition, Uganda