Uganda sets sights on reducing aflatoxin burden

Uganda sets sights on reducing aflatoxin burden
20 June 2022
Daily news source about food recalls, foodborne illness “Food Safety News” dedicated one of its recent articles to the issue of various poisonous carcinogens that are produced by certain fungi and are found on agricultural crops such as maize (corn), peanuts, cottonseed. Aflatoxins are a family of toxins produced by nuts. The main fungi that produce aflatoxins are Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, which are abundant in warm and humid regions of the world.

Oxfam, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), the Grain Council of Uganda and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture have started a campaign to reduce aflatoxin in food.
 
According to the latest research, aflatoxins are mycotoxins posing a serious health risk to humans and livestock, consuming foods with high aflatoxin levels increases the risk of liver cancer and other related diseases.
 
The campaign is aimed at establishing training on how to handle food contamination, considering that high aflatoxin limits the export of Uganda’s agri-food to the East African region and internationally, launched campaign will contribute to ensuring the right moisture content in food to eliminate high aflatoxin levels.