Mycotoxins worldwide: Current issues in Africa

The current mycotoxin issues in Africa need to be viewed in the overall context of local food safety, health and agricultural issues. As undernourishment is widespread in Africa, food safety is frequently subordinated to food security issues, while the health problems of violence, malnutrition and microbial threats (TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS) frequently overshadow other concerns. Nevertheless, mycotoxins are an important problem impacting directly on human health. Both aflatoxins and fumonisins are widely distributed food contaminants in Africa, whereas information on other mycotoxins is limited. The reality of single cereal (maize) subsistence diets, with their high daily cereal consumption, is that recommended tolerable daily intakes for mycotoxins are frequently exceeded at moderate levels of contamination. The mycotoxin problem in Africa can only be fully addressed once food sufficiency has been achieved, national food testing capacity further developed and the resources available to small farmers improved.