A significant number of development partners have come on board to support the management and control of aflatoxins in a bid of ensuring food security and safety in Kenya.
The efforts come after the realisation that the dangerous fungi affect most of the country’s staple foods as well as export spices and nuts such as chilli, ginger and macadamia.
One of the development partners, Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP)Kenya which is funded by the European Union has developed a guide for capacity-building actors in different food value chains.
The guide by MARKUP helps develop tools for further capacity building for various actors including policymakers, and industry players like millers, regulators, farmers, and inspectors.
“There is a training guide that is now available that can be used to develop content on the management and control of aflatoxins,” said Maina Karuiru, National Project Coordinator MARKUP Kenya.
The programme which is being implemented by United Nations Industrial Development (Unido) has also developed an elaborate training manual specifically targeting the inspection officers and regulators.
“These documents can be used for many years to come, which is the kind of sustainability we are looking for in matters regarding aflatoxins control and management,” added Karuiru.
He said farmers were educated about what can be done at the production level on their lands such as the use of Aflasafe in the soil and proper and pre-harvest handling of their ready crop.
Aflasafe is a range of natural products that substantially reduce aflatoxins in crops.
Karuiru said the program was also sensitising traders about aflatoxins management with key counties being Kajiado and Busia due to cross-border trade.
“This is in tandem with MARKUP Kenya’s strife to enhance food safety and market competitiveness for Kenyan produce locally, regionally and internationally,” he said.
He said the project had reached thousands of people using different modes, as well as inspectors-both at headquarters and counties and from different agencies including the Kenya Bureau of Standards, Agriculture and Food Authority and the Department of Public Health.
“The trained master trainers will continue doing pieces of training even beyond the lifetime of the MARKUP Kenya project,” said Karuiru
Charity Mutegi, a consultant on food safety who has been involved in capacity building for aflatoxin management said there are solutions during pre-harvest that target the general health of the crop during growth and make sure that it is not stressed.
“Usually high temperatures, drought stress and poor crop management practices pre-dispose your produce to contamination because the fungus that produces aflatoxins predominantly resides in the soil,” she said.
She explained that aflatoxins are poisons that are produced by fungus that are found naturally in the environment which include the soil, air and even in the food.
She added that the poison is colourless, odourless and tasteless which complicates its management.
Mutegi said aflatoxins are a big concern for the country because they affect the people in many aspects such as human health, trade and food security.
“Aflatoxins implications on health are in two forms, acute poisoning which has been reported in Kenya historically and chronic poisoning which should be a bigger concern,” she said.
She noted that acute poisoning is when one consumes a copious amount of aflatoxins leading to illness and sometimes even death while chronic poisoning refers to the consumption of small amounts in bits of infected food over a long time as it could lead to cancer.
“Although these small levels of aflatoxins do not kill immediately, they gradually accumulate and result in cancer infections.
The liver is often the primary target of infection but there are reports of infections of other vital organs including kidneys and pancreas,” observed the scientist.
She said the poisonous fungi also cause food insecurity because food that is found to be unfit for human consumption is destroyed thereby causing a deficit in a country that is already facing a shortage.
She said the best approach for managing food safety hazards is prevention because it is better to deal with the threat before it gets into food rather than chasing after it when food has already been contaminated.