Assessment of mycotoxins in infant flour and their decontamination in raw material during production processes in Ouagadougou.

Abstract

The infant flours produced in Burkina Faso are essentially a mixture of cereals and legumes. These raw materials are frequently contaminated with mycotoxins which pose a huge food safety and public health threat. The objective of this study was to determine mycotoxin levels in raw materials and infant flours in Ouagadougou and to investigate the impact of decontamination on the raw materials used in infant flour production. A total of 22 cereals and 17 legumes as raw materials and 26 infant flour samples were analysed for aflatoxins, fumonisin B₁ (FB₁), and ochratoxin A (OTA) by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, while saline treatment and hand-sorting of grains in mycotoxin reduction were tested. All the samples of raw materials and infant flours were contaminated with aflatoxins, whereas 20.5% and 38.5% of raw materials and 57.7% and 61.5% of infant flours, respectively, were contaminated by FB₁ and OTA. These decontamination assays significantly reduced the levels of mycotoxins. AFB₁ was reduced by 48% after soaking of maize for 6 h in a 6% NaCl solution. Sorting resulted in a 92% reduction in AFB₁ content in peanut. However, soaking in saline solution did not reduce the FB₁ and OTA contents. Sorting did not also reduce FB₁ contents in peanut. Sorting and soaking in 6% saline solution for 6 h are production processes that lead to a reduction in the level of contamination by aflatoxins in maize and peanut used as raw materials for infant flour production.