Article Sidebar
Article Details
While African Health Sciences has been freely accessible online there have been questions on whether it is Open Access or not. We wish to clearly state that indeed African Health Sciences is Open Access. There are key issues regarding Open Access needing clarification for avoidance of doubt:
- 1. Henceforth, papers in African Health Sciences will be published under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on https://creativecomons.org/)
- 2. The copyright owners or the authors grant the 3rd party (perpetually and in advance) the right to disseminate, reproduce, or use the research papers in part or in full, format/medium as long as:
- No substantive errors are introduced in the process
- Attribution of authorship and correct citation details are given
- The referencing details are not changed.
Should the papers be reproduced in part, this must be clearly stated.
- 3. The papers will be freely and universally accessible online in an easily readable format such as XML in at least one widely recognized open access repository such as PUBMED CENTRAL.
B. ABRIDGED LICENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN AUTHORS AND African Health Sciences
I submitted my manuscript to African Health Sciences and would like to affirm that:
1.0 I am authorized by my co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
2.0 I guarantee, on behalf of self and co-authors:
- That the paper is original, and has not been published in any other peer-reviewed journal; nor is it under consideration by other journal (s). It does not infringe existing copyright or any other person’s rights
- That we are/I am the sole author(s) of the paper and with authority to enter into this agreement. My granting rights to African Health Sciences is not in breach of any other obligation
- That the paper contains nothing unlawful, or libelous. Nor anything that would constitute a breach of contract, confidence or commitment given to secrecy, if published
- That I/we have taken care to ensure the integrity of the article.
3.0 I and all co-authors, agree that the paper, if accepted for publication, shall be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0. (see https://creativecommons.org/)
Main Article Content
Aflatoxin B1 and M1 contamination of animal feeds and milk from urban centers in Kenya
Abstract
Background: Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the principal hydroxylated AFB1 metabolite present in milk of cows fed with a diet contaminated with AFB1and excreted within 12 hours of administration of contaminated feeds. Objective: This study was initiated to assess the knowledge and practices of urban dairy farmers and feed millers about aflatoxin in feeds and milk, determine the prevalence and quantify the levels of AFB1 and AFM1 in animal feeds and milk respectively from urban environs in Kenya. Methods: This work was carried out in the Department of Public Health Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Nairobi, Kenya, between February 2006 and March 2007. Results: A total of 830 animal feed and 613 milk samples from four urban centers were analyzed for aflatoxin B1 and M1 respectively using competitive enzyme immunoassay. Eighty six percent (353/412) of the feed samples from farmers were positive for aflatoxin B1 and 67% (235/353) of these exceeded the FAO/WHO level of 5µ gKg-1. Eighty one percent (197/ 243) of the feed samples from feed millers and 87% (153/175) from agrochemical shops were positive, while 58% (115/197) and 66% (92/153) of the positive samples exceeded the FAO/WHO limits respectively. Seventy two percent (315/439) of the milk from dairy farmers, 84% (71/85) from large and medium scale farmers and 99% (88/89) of the pasteurized marketed milk were positive for aflatoxin M1, and 20%, 35% an 31% of positive milk from dairy farmers, medium and large scale farmers and market outlets respectively, exceeded the WHO/FAO levels of 0.05µ g/Kg-1. Sixty seven percent of the urban smallholder dairy farmers had no knowledge that milk could be contaminated with aflatoxin M1 and neither knew how they could mitigate against this exposure. Feed millers knew about aflatoxin B1 in grains and excretion of aflatoxin M1 in milk, but were not alleviating exposure to animals. Conclusion: There is need to create awareness and establish routine monitoring of animal feeds and milk to reduce animal and consequently human response.
Key words: Aflatoxin B1, M1, animal feeds, milk, Kenya
