Aflatoxin Research
Aflatoxins
produced by the Aspergillus fungus contaminate millions of pounds of peanut and
maize crops each year. They are
especially widespread in developing countries such as Guatemala and Kenya where
standards for Food and Drug safety are significantly lower than those in the US
and Europe. Peanut farmers in Guatemala
are prevented from exporting the vast majority of their crops to sell in the US
and Europe due to high levels of aflatoxins, depriving them of a much needed
source of income. In addition,
aflatoxin-containing peanuts which remain in developing countries can cause
serious long term health problems for people who are unknowingly exposed, and
outbreaks in Kenya and surrounding countries have led to several hundred
deaths. Specifically, aflatoxins are
known to suppress the immune system and increase the risk of liver cancer, HIV,
and malaria.
Test Objectives
The purpose of this research trip is to quantitatively
measure the aflatoxin-reduction capabilities of two low-cost technologies
developed by The Full Belly Project:
- Universal Nut Sheller (UNS) – A hand-operated concrete device which is used to
remove the shells of peanuts and other nuts.
Since the aflatoxin-producing fungus Aspergillus
Flavus tends to grow predominantly on the outside of the peanut shells, it
is believed that the UNS can reduce cross-contamination between peanut
shells. During the manual shelling
process, typically the sheller mixes the shells and kernels by hand, so any
fungi growing on the outside of the shell is exposed to the kernels for consumption. In addition, this exposes the manual
sheller’s hands to the aflatoxin, which is also a health hazard because the
toxin can be absorbed through the skin. On the other hand, the UNS breaks the peanut
shells inside of the concrete machine and the loose shells can be blown away by
an electric fan, minimizing the kernel/shell mixing and the human exposure
during the process. However, the amount
of aflatoxin-reduction has not been tested yet, and preliminary test data will
be collected during this experiment.
- UV Scanner Box – A wooden box with a UV light inside, this device is used to screen unshelled peanut samples for fungi contamination. It is known that Aspergillus Flavus fluoresces under 365 nm UV light, while the normal outside of an uncontaminated peanut shell appears opaque. The machine requires 4 people to operate, with 2 people loading/unloading peanut trays and 2 people looking in through portals to pick out the glowing peanuts. The streamlined assembly-line style human-powered conveyor belt is designed to be both simple and efficient, so that a team of 4 workers can sort hundreds of pounds of peanuts per day. A youtube video demonstration of this procedure can be found on the videos page.
References
thefullbellyproject.org
USAID Guide to Peanut Production on the Rupunini Savannas
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