MYCOFLORA AND AFLATOXIGENIC MOULD ON LEAVES OF Terminalia catappa: A COMMON FOOD PACKAGE MATERIAL IN TWO SOUTH-WESTERN CITIES OF NIGERIA
Keywords:
Food contamination, Aflatoxin, Terminalia catappa leaves, Packaging materials, Consumers safety.Abstract
Fungi constitute a major problem in the production, storage and packaging of food. The recent increase in the use of Terminalia catappa leaves as a substitute for food packaging materials in Abeokuta and Ibadan necessitated the need to determine the fungal population on the leaves and quantification of aflatoxin produced by them. Fungi species were isolated from leaves of Terminalia catappa using standard microbiological procedures .High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to quantify the aflatoxin present. Results show toxin-producing fungi and some yeasts inhabit the leaves which include Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. parasiticus, A. niger, Alternaria, Rhizopus, Fusarium and Candida. The fungal count ranged from 1.0 × 10 6 to 1.9 × 106 (cfu g-1) and 3.0 × 106 to 8.5 × 106 cfu g-1 for the surface disinfected and non- surface disinfected leaves respectively from Abeokuta while for Ibadan the fungal count ranged from 1.54 × 106 to 2.0 × 106 and 4.30 × 106 to 12.06 × 106 cfu g-1 for surface disinfected and non-surface disinfected leaves respectively. All Aspergillus spp. isolated from leaf samples produced aflatoxins G1 and B1 that ranged from 2.64 µg kg-1 to 12.50 µg kg-1. There is an urgent need to regulate the use of Terminalia catappa leaves as food packaging material in Nigeria because of the presence of toxin-producing organisms it harbours if public health must be protected.
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