The Contamination of Kenyan Lager Beers with Fusarium Mycotoxins

Seventy five samples of two popular lager beers, namely Pilsner and Tusker were randomly collected from the city of Nairobi and the surrounding satellite towns in Kenya. The samples were analyzed for the presence of 4 mycotoxins, namely, deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisin B 1 (FB 1 ), zearalenone (ZEA), and aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ), by the competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (EL1SA) technique. The incidences of DON and ZEA were 100% in both brands, while for FB 1 the incidence was 72%, with incidences in Tusker (76.9%) being significantly higher than in Pilsner (66.7%) (p = 0.00). The mean values for contamination were 3.29 and 3.57 ng/mL for DON, 0.28 and 0.32 ng/mL for FB 1 and 7.84 and 8.50 pg/ml for ZEA in Tusker and Pilsner brands respectively. A positive occurrence association was found between DON and FB 1 and DON and ZEA, an indication of their common source from Fusarium sp. The results suggest low levels and safe exposure to consumers of Kenyan lager beers with Fusarium mycotoxins.

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