Nji Queenta Ngum, Babalola Olubukola Oluranti, Mwanza Mulunda
Food Security and Safety Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho 2735, South Africa.
Department of Animal Health, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho 2735, South Africa.
Toxicol Rep. 2024 Aug 15;13:101711. doi: 10.1016/j.toxrep.2024.101711. eCollection 2024 Dec.
Aflatoxins are frequent contaminants of maize especially in the face of climate change with deleterious health and socio-economic impacts. South Africa is ranked 9th maize exporter globally; hence, insights need to be gained in terms of the maize value chain in South Africa with respect to aflatoxin contamination to evaluate consumers' exposure. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique was used in this study to quantify aflatoxins in South African commercial maize. One thousand and twenty-eight (1028) maize samples were collected across six distinct agro-climatic regions over five harvest seasons (2017 - 2021). A total of 205 samples (19.94 %) were found to be contaminated with aflatoxins, with mean total aflatoxin concentration of 64.17 ppb amongst the contaminated samples, which is above the SA regulatory limit of 20 ppb for animal consumption. The year 2018 recorded the highest mean total aflatoxin value while North-West agro-climatic region had the highest mean total aflatoxin value. Drastic reduction in average rainfall significantly influence aflatoxin contamination of South African maize.
黄曲霉毒素是玉米常见的污染物，尤其是在气候变化的情况下，会对健康和社会经济产生有害影响。南非是全球第九大玉米出口国；因此，需要深入了解南非玉米价值链中黄曲霉毒素污染情况，以评估消费者的接触情况。本研究采用高效液相色谱（HPLC）技术对南非商业玉米中的黄曲霉毒素进行定量分析。在五个收获季节（2017 - 2021年），跨越六个不同的农业气候区域收集了1028份玉米样本。共发现205份样本（19.94%）被黄曲霉毒素污染，受污染样本中黄曲霉毒素总平均浓度为64.17 ppb，高于南非动物食用20 ppb的监管限值。2018年黄曲霉毒素总平均含量最高，而西北农业气候区域的黄曲霉毒素总平均含量最高。平均降雨量的急剧减少显著影响了南非玉米的黄曲霉毒素污染。
