The Occurrence and Human Health Impacts of mycotoxins in Somalia.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by various moulds, which contaminate many staple foods and cause a broad range of detrimental health effects in animals and humans through chronic exposure or acute toxicity. As such, the worldwide contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins is a significant problem, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, mycotoxin occurrence in staple foods consumed in Somalia was determined. A total of 140 (42 maize, 40 sorghum and 58 wheat) samples were collected from a number of markets in Mogadishu, Somalia, and analyzed by a UPLC-MS/MS multi-mycotoxin method, encompassing 77 toxins. All of the maize samples tested contained eight or more mycotoxins, with AFB1 and FB1 reaching up to 908 µg/kg and 17,322 µg/kg, respectively, - greatly exceeding the EU limits/guidance values. The average probable daily intake for the sum of fumonisins (FB1+FB2) was 16.70 µg/kg bw/day, representing 835% of the recommended provisional maximum tolerable daily intake value of 2 µg/kg bw/day. A risk characterization revealed the mean national margin of exposure of 0.62 for AFB1 with an associated risk of developing primary liver cancer estimated at 75 cancers/year/100,000 population for white maize consumption alone. The results clearly indicate that aflatoxin and fumonisin exposure is a major public health concern with risk management actions requiring prioritization in Somalia.