Browsing by Author "Kriticos, Darren J."

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The influence of weather on the occurrence of aflatoxin b1 in harvested maize from Kenya and Tanzania
(MDIP, 2021) Temba, Benigni A.; Darnell, Ross E.; Gichangi, Anne; Lwezaura, Deogratias; Pardey, Philip G.; Harvey, Jagger J.; Karanja, James; Massomo, Said M. S.; Ota, Noboru; Wainaina, James M.; Fletcher, Mary T.; Kriticos, Darren J.
: A study was conducted using maize samples collected from different agroecological zones of Kenya (n = 471) and Tanzania (n = 100) during the 2013 maize harvest season to estimate a relationship between aflatoxin B1 concentration and occurrence with weather conditions during the growing season. The toxins were analysed by the ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method. Aflatoxin B1 incidence ranged between 0–100% of samples in different regions with an average value of 29.4% and aflatoxin concentrations of up to 6075 µg/kg recorded in one sample. Several regression techniques were explored. Random forests achieved the highest overall accuracy of 80%, while the accuracy of a logistic regression model was 65%. Low rainfall occurring during the early stage of the maize plant maturing combined with high temperatures leading up to full maturity provide warning signs of aflatoxin contamination. Risk maps for the two countries for the 2013 season were generated using both random forests and logistic regression models.
Tools for defusing a major global food and feed safety risk: non biological postharvest procedures to decontaminate mycotoxins in foods and feeds
(American Chemical Society, 2016) Temba, Benigni A.; Sultanbawa, Yasmina; Kriticos, Darren J.; Fox, Glen P.; Harvey, Jagger J. W.; Fletcher, Mary T.
Mycotoxin contamination of foods and animal feeds is a worldwide problem for human and animal health. Controlling mycotoxin contamination has drawn the attention of scientists and other food and feed stakeholders all over the world. Despite best efforts targeting field and storage preventive measures, environmental conditions can still lead to mycotoxin contamination. This raises a need for developing decontamination methods to inactivate or remove the toxins from contaminated products. At present, decontamination methods applied include an array of both biological and nonbiological methods. The targeted use of nonbiological methods spans from the latter half of last century, when ammoniation and ozonation were first used to inactivate mycotoxins in animal feeds, to the novel techniques being developed today such as photosensitization. Effectiveness and drawbacks of different nonbiological methods have been reported in the literature, and this review examines the utility of these methods in addressing food safety. Particular consideration is given to the application of such methods in the developing world, where mycotoxin contamination is a serious food safety issue in staple crops such as maize and rice.