Pyrrolizidine alkaloid contamination of food in Africa: A review of current trends and implications

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) contamination of foodstuffs has become a topical issue in recent years on account of its potential hepatotoxicity to consumers. This review therefore highlights human exposure to PAs across Africa, focusing on their occurrence, current trends of food contamination, and their associated health implications. A comprehensive search of peer-scientific literature and relevant databases, PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Web of Science and Scopus, was conducted from 2001 to 2023 focusing mainly on foodstuffs, including grains, herbs, teas, honey, and livestock products. The findings revealed that PA contamination is a prevalent issue in several African countries, with the primary sources of contamination attributed to the consumption of honey and the use of PA plants as herbs in food preparations. Additionally, poor farming practices have been found to influence the presence and levels of PAs in foodstuffs. To mitigate PA contamination in food and safeguarding public health across the continent, several strategies are proposed, including the implementation of stringent regulatory and quality control measures, adoption of Good Agricultural Practices, and public awareness campaigns to educate producers, consumers and beekeepers about the risks associated with PA-contaminated food products.

Gender-Disaggregated Consumer Testing and Descriptive Sensory Analysis of Local and New Yam Varieties

Gender-disaggregated sensory evaluation has become an essential element that could enhance breeding activities by increasing the adoption of new varieties. The effect of age, sex and geographical location on descriptor preferences for boiled and pounded yam were studied using descriptive and consumer testing. Attributes with definitions and measurement scales were used to generate lexicons for boiled and pounded yam. Analytical tools employed for the inferential statistics were the independent t-test, analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney test and relative importance index (RII). Descriptive testing showed that all the D. rotundata varieties were good for boiling and pounding. The D. alata varieties afase soanyinto and afase biri were most liked, while afase pa and ahodenfo were disliked. Age had no significant effect on descriptor preferences. Being a female or male, however, influenced preferences for pounded yam descriptors such as mouldability, lumpiness and colour. The RII for the D. rotundata varieties (0.22-0.28) showed that they are all good varieties for boiling and pounding. The local D. alata varieties were still highly acceptable compared the new CRI varieties due to the aroma. Rural consumers preferred all the descriptors of boiled D. rotundata than urban consumers, whereas urban consumers liked the pounded yam varieties better than the rural consumers. Availability of the new yam varieties on local markets could therefore increase consumption and improve adoption.