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By Michael Chepkwony
Residents of Nandi County are at a high risk of contracting throat and oesophageal cancer, a study warns.
This, the study said, is due to high consumption of contaminated maize and milk. Findings of the research conducted by the University of Nairobi and released on Tuesday show that majority of people are consuming products containing toxins.
The report released to District Policy Committee indicated that each person in Nandi County consumes about 0.5kg of ugali with every household consuming two to three litres of milk per day.
The ‘Safe Food Safe Dairy’ project research was conducted by the university in partnership with MTT Agrifood Research-Finland, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Egerton University, and Finish Food Safety Authority.
Project co-ordinator Erastus Kang’ethe, who released the report at Eden Springs hotel in Kapsabet, said fumonisin toxins discovered in several maize samples taken from the county predisposed people to cancer.
“Apart from oesophageal and throat cancer, the residents are predisposed to genetic mutation and malformation in children and animals,” he said.
Prof Kang’ethe explained that the contamination was due to poor storage of maize and its products while the toxin was found in milk because of contaminated food given to livestock.
“Many farmers harvest and store moist maize or use flour kept in a dump area. The moist condition favours the toxin,” said Kang’ethe, who was speaking during a forum in Nandi.
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