The processing, preparation, and cooking practices of small fish among poor Ghanaian households: An exploratory qualitative study.

Unlabelled: Small fish are an important part of the diet in Ghana, but malnutrition rates remain high. The nutritional quality of fish consumed in Ghana may be affected by food processing and cooking practices, but the extent to which these processes are practiced among poor Ghanaian households along the coastal belt is unknown. This study explored how poor Ghanaian households process, prepare, and cook meals containing small fish.

Exposure assessment and cancer risk characterization of aflatoxin M (AFM) through ingestion of raw cow milk in southern Ghana.

Milk and dairy products are the most important nutritional foods among all age groups. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM) contaminates milk and makes its consumption potentially dangerous. Infants are mostly at risk because they are typically fed as many as six and more times per day, which is indeed a disquieting concern.

Aflatoxin M exposure in a fermented millet-based milk beverage 'brukina' and its cancer risk characterization in Greater Accra, Ghana.

Brukina is a millet based fermented milk product which is consumed as a beverage in Ghana. It is however prone to aflatoxin M (AFM) contamination, which is a serious health challenge for low and middle-income countries in subtropical regions. This study aimed at evaluating AFM levels and cancer risks associated with brukina (n = 150) sampled from different locations of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

Toxicogenic Fungi, Aflatoxins, and Antimicrobial Activities Associated with Some Spices and Herbs from Three Selected Markets in Ho Municipality, Ghana.

Spices and herbs are widely used food ingredients that enhance most organoleptic features of prepared foods. They are also used for medicinal and preservative purposes. Spices and herbs are potential carriers of bacteria, yeasts, and molds due to the nature of cultivation, harvest methods, storage conditions, packaging procedures, distribution, sale, and general handling.

Exposure and risk characterizations of ochratoxins A and aflatoxins through maize (Zea mays) consumed in different agro-ecological zones of Ghana.

Mycotoxin contamination of foodstuffs is a serious food safety concern globally as the prolonged ingestion of these toxins has the tendency to worsen the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. This study aimed at estimating ochratoxin A (OTA) and aflatoxin (AF) levels above international (European Food Safety Authority, EFSA) and local (Ghana Standards Authority, GSA) standards as well as the health risks associated with the consumption of maize (n = 180) sampled from six (6) regions representing the agro-ecological zones of Ghana. OTA and AF were measured with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with a Fluorescence detector.

The occurrence of aflatoxins and human health risk estimations in randomly obtained maize from some markets in Ghana.

Maize and its products are most often prone to fungal contamination especially during cultivation and storage by toxigenic fungi. Aflatoxicosis still persist in Ghana despite the numerous education on several ways of its prevention at the farm as well as its adverse health implications which are food safety concerns. A random assessment and human risk analysis was conducted on 90 maize (72 white and 18 colored) samples from markets across all the regions of Ghana.

Fungal diversity of "solom" a Ghanaian traditional beverage of millet ().

The association of cereals with fungi cannot be disregarded as their manifestation in our foods poses serious health risks. The aim of this study was to investigate the mycofloral (fungal) and chemical (pH) qualities of the "solom" (beverage of millet) available for consumption from their respective sales points in Ho. "Solom" a cereal beverage of millet was sampled from ten (10) different locations in the Ho Municipality of Ghana and evaluated for their pH, fungal counts, and species diversity.

Aflatoxins in randomly selected groundnuts () and its products from some local markets across Ghana: Human risk assessment and monitoring.

A random assessment and human risk analysis were conducted on 80 groundnut pastes and raw groundnuts from some local markets across the different agroecological zones of Ghana. Total aflatoxins (AFtotal) and aflatoxins (AFB, AFB, AFG, and AFG) were analyzed using the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method. Out of 80 samples investigated, 49 (61.

Comparison of the microbial composition of African fermented foods using amplicon sequencing.

Fermented foods play a major role in the diet of people in Africa, where a wide variety of raw materials are fermented. Understanding the microbial populations of these products would help in the design of specific starter cultures to produce standardized and safer foods. In this study, the bacterial diversity of African fermented foods produced from several raw materials (cereals, milk, cassava, honey, palm sap, and locust beans) under different conditions (household, small commercial producers or laboratory) in 8 African countries was analysed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing during the Workshop "Analysis of the Microbiomes of Naturally Fermented Foods Training Course".