Risk of dietary exposure to aflatoxins and fumonisins in infants less than 6 months of age in Rombo, Northern Tanzania.

Infants less than 6 months of age receiving foods other than breast milk are at a high risk of exposure to mycotoxins. We surveyed food intake and estimated the risk of exposures to aflatoxin and fumonisin mycotoxins for infants less than 6 months of age in Northern Tanzania. A total of 143 infants were progressively recruited and three follow-up visits were made at 1, 3 and 5 months of age. A 24-h dietary recall technique was used to estimate flour intake of infants who had been introduced to maize foods. Aflatoxins and fumonisins in the flours were analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography technique. Exposure to aflatoxins or fumonisins was estimated using the deterministic approach. By the age of 3 months, 98 infants had started taking food; 67 of them, maize flours at levels ranging from 0.57 to 37.50 g per infant per day (average 8 g per infant per day). Fifty-eight per cent of 67 maize flour samples contained detectable aflatoxins (range 0.33-69.47 µg kg(-1) ; median 6 µg kg(-1) ) and 31% contained detectable fumonisins (range 48-1224 µg kg(-1) ; median 124 µg kg(-1) ). For infants who consumed contaminated flours, aflatoxin exposure ranged from 0.14 to 120 ng kg(-1) body weight (BW) per day (all above the health concern level of 0.017 ng kg(-1) BW per day as recommended by the European Food Safety Agency) and fumonisin exposure ranged from 0.005 to 0.88 µg kg(-1) BW per day. Insignificant association was observed between exposure to fumonisins or aflatoxins and stunting or underweight. Reducing aflatoxin and fumonisin contamination of maize and dietary diversification can prevent infants and the public, in general, from exposure to the toxins.

Fumonisin B1 contamination in breast milk and its exposure in infants under 6 months of age in Rombo, Northern Tanzania.

The carry-over of fumonisin B1 from contaminated feed into dairy milk also suggests its carry-over from contaminated food into breast milk. This study assessed fumonisin B1 contamination in breast milk and associated exposures of infants under 6 months of age. Breast milk samples were collected from 131 lactating mothers and the weight of their infants was measured during the first month of lactation. Fumonisin B1 was extracted using methanol:acetone, cleaned up with Strong Anion Exchange columns and quantified by HPLC. Fumonisin B1 exposure in each child was estimated using deterministic approach. Out of the 131 samples, 58 (44.3%) contained fumonisin B1 at levels ranging from 6.57 to 471.05 ng/ml. Of the contaminated samples, 10.3% had fumonisin B1 levels above the EU limit of 200 ppb for fumonisins in infants' food. Exposure in the infants ranged from 0.78 to 64.93 µg/kg body weight (bw) per day (median, 3 µg/kg bw/day) and exceeded the provisional maximum tolerable limit of 2 µg/kg bw/day in 29% of the infants. In conclusion, breast milk from mothers in Northern Tanzania is contaminated with fumonisins at levels that lead to unacceptable exposures in infants. Strategies to prevent lactating mothers from fumonisin exposure are urgently needed to minimise fumonisin exposure in infants.