Abstract

Food safety is a major concern worldwide. Aflatoxins contamination is a public health concern affecting close to 5 billion people worldwide. Aflatoxins cause liver cancer, stunted growth in children and suppress the immune system especially in immunocompromised patients. This study determined the prevalence of aflatoxin contamination in maize flour obtained from maize milling industries in Kenya. One hundred and five (105) maize flour samples were collected from 8 regions across the country from various milling industries classified as small, medium or large scale depending on their production capacity. The samples were analysed in triplicates for total aflatoxin content using the Elisa method. The study findings indicate that 85.3% of the samples complied with the aflatoxin standards (≤10ppb) in maize flour in Kenya. Compliance with the aflatoxin’s standard varied across the regions with very high contamination being detected in Lower Eastern region (mean aflatoxin content of 68.7ppb) whereas no contamination was detected in North Rift, Nyanza and Coast regions. The mean aflatoxin levels in maize flour from the small, medium and large mills were 44.2, 17.2 and 3.1ppb, correspondingly. Maize flour from the large mills were safer compared to those from the small and medium size mills with compliance rates of 92.7%, 72.7% and 84.6%, respectively. Aflatoxin contamination is still prevalent in Kenya with the situation being of major concern at small scale level compared to large scale millers. There is need for targeted support to understand the root causes of these contaminations at small, medium and large-scale milling in order to define sustainable mitigation measures.