Gbemenou Joselin Benoit Gnonlonfin, PhD (Technical Advisor, PACA/DREA/AUC)

THE 10th AFRICAN DAIRY CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION NAIROBI, KENYA, SEPTEMBER 24TH-26TH 2014

Aflatoxins: impacts on dairy production and trade

THE 10th AFRICAN DAIRY CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION NAIROBI, KENYA, SEPTEMBER 24TH-26TH 2014

Aflatoxins: impacts on dairy production and trade

Background

• Food security and and food safety– Food Security exists when all people, at all times,

have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active (productive) and healthy life (World Food Summit, 1996. In: FAO 2006. Policy Brief).

– Food safety: microbial contaminants and chemical toxicants below tolerance levels (Kramer, 1990. Southern J. Agric. Economics, 33-40).

Background (cont.)

• Factors that affect food safetyFactors that affect food safety

– Presence of microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, Presence of microorganisms (bacteria, yeast, fungi, ,

viruses) viruses) (Christensen, 1973, Seed Sci. Technol. 1: 547-562)(Christensen, 1973, Seed Sci. Technol. 1: 547-562)

– Presence of physical materialsPresence of physical materials

– Toxin production Toxin production (Miller et al., 1995, J. Stored Prod. Res. 31: 1-16; (Miller et al., 1995, J. Stored Prod. Res. 31: 1-16;

Shephard, 2008, Chem. Soc. Rev. 37: 2468-2477)Shephard, 2008, Chem. Soc. Rev. 37: 2468-2477) among others by among others by

fungifungi• Aspergillus Aspergillus spp, spp, FusariumFusarium spp spp and and PenicilliumPenicillium spp spp (Pitt, (Pitt,

2000, Med. Mycol. 38: 17-22)2000, Med. Mycol. 38: 17-22)

Background (cont.)

• Physical aspects of infected Physical aspects of infected food itemfood item

– DiscolorationDiscoloration

– Moldy tasteMoldy taste

– Production of off odorProduction of off odor– Production of mycotoxin: Production of mycotoxin:

aflatoxinaflatoxinInfected maize cob

Infected groundnut grain

Background (end)• Apparently good food for human

consumption • Bad food mostly for animals feed (e.g dairy

cattle)• Acute toxicity: death losses of cattle

consuming moldy corn was reported in the United States

• Chronic toxicity: transfer of mycotoxin (aflatoxin) in food-producing animals

TRANSFER FACTORS IN FOOD-PRODUCING ANIMALS

TRANSFER FACTORS IN FOOD-PRODUCING ANIMALS

Impacts on dairy industry (1)• AFB1 is rapidly absorbed in the

digestive tract and primarily metabolized by liver enzymes, converting it to AFM1, which is then excreted in milk and urine.

• Toxic metabolites can be excreted in milk and cause public health concern and have the most significant impact to the dairy industry

Impacts on dairy industry (2)

• Barriers to regional intra-regional and international trade is sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.– Lack of a harmonized approach to SPS issues – Lack of information– SPS capacity is uneven amongst countries.

• Countries with weaker SPS (aflatoxin) capacity will find it more difficult to trade with countries where SPS capacity is stronger.

• Uneven trade relationships will tend to widen if SPS barriers (aflatoxin) are not addressed

Incentives

In developed world•Removing crops with unacceptable aflatoxin contents from both foods and feeds

•Crops are destroyed in order to prevent human exposure

•Contaminated crops - to alternative uses: e.g. oil production, fuel, detoxified using binders

• Small scale farmers• Inadequate pre- and post harvest technologies• Unaffordable management technologies• Absence of robust epidemiological system across Africa (acute

and chronic toxicity: humans and animals)• Absence/weak food safety policy and consumers awareness

program • Absence/weak of quality control practices along value chain• Absence of appropriate diagnostic and trained personnel• Alternatives uses• Climate change

• Tackle the problem: inter-disciplinary approach, national, regional, international collaboration, mainstreaming in policies and programs, resources and investment in projects food safety and access to markets

Challenges for Africa

Conclusions• Aflatoxin continues to be a significant problem in

Africa and has enormous economic consequences on commodity losses, health and trade, especially where it is unregulated.

• Contamination is proving to be a major barrier in linking African farmers (dairy industry) to markets - international, regional and inter-regional and local regulations and standards governing agricultural trade and food safety.

Controlling mycotoxin (aflatoxin) is key

When mycotoxin (aflatoxin) is present in feed optimal performance cannot be achieved!

To get the best performance increase anti-stress compatibility by controlling aflatoxin in feed

Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA)

• Mission: improve the effectiveness and efficiency of governments to tackle the aflatoxin challenge in Africa (forge strong partnerships and work jointly with other key stakeholders)

• Roles: – Convener: Organize inter-regional, regional, and country convenings to support

governmental needs – Knowledge Manager: Gather existing evidence, develop new materials to fill

gaps, and disseminate information – Financial Resources Provider: Only fund consultants for evidence generation,

technical assistance and capacity building for governments, and aflatoxin testing equipment to support country plans

• Basically PACA plays a technical assistance role

• Continental activities – Mainstream aflatoxin in continental frameworks, support inter-regional convenings, and serve as the knowledge exchange hub for the continent on aflatoxin

• Regional activities – By supporting the RECs, the Secretariat will help to: mainstream alfatoxin into regional frameworks, support regional convenings, support REC implementation of government capacity building, and enable the development of structured trading systems

• Country level activities – The Secretariat and RECs will jointly support the development of country plans, align stakeholders to the plans, and support gov’ts to execute plans by building capacity and monitoring progress

• Five countries pilot programs will be supported for 5 years. At the end of year 3, the Secretariat and RECs should review progress, identify learnings, and consider available funding before scaling the program

Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA)

Scale to a continental level

Take away messages① Africa is at a critical moment. If we do not

act now the long term costs will be staggering

② It is invest now or pay forever