Aflatoxin: Ways you can protect your maize

A shopper at a supermarket in Mombasa County.

News about aflatoxin contamination in foods is on the rise. Already peanuts and maize products have been banned due unacceptable levels of aflatoxin. Aflatoxins are an odourless, colourless, flavourless toxin produced by the fungi strain Aspergillus flavus and are highly toxic to humans and animals. On maize, the aflatoxin-causing fungi is characterised by greenish yellow to yellowish brown, powdery mold growth on or between the maize kernels.

Initially it was believed that the growth of aflatoxin-causing fungi occurs on maize only in storage. But it has since been established that the infection can start from the field.