Fermentation of Aflatoxin Contaminated White Dent Maize (Zea mays)

White dent maize was sorted manually into apparently clean and visibly spoilt maize samples. The maize samples were pulverized and fermented for Ogi production. The clean and spoilt maize samples had 11.8 and 18.6% moisture content, respectively. During fermentation, the concentration of aflatoxin B present in the apparently clean white dent maize slurry rose from 0.98 μg mL-1 at day 0-1.05 μg mL-1 at day 1 while for visibly spoilt white dent maize slurry the concentration rose from 2.20 μg mL-1 at day 0-2.55 μg mL-1 at day 1. The study also shows the persistence of aflatoxin B throughout the fermentation period with concentrations remaining at 1.05 and 2.55 μg mL-1, respectively for both samples. Fermentation was accompanied with decrease in pH of the slurry from 6.0 at day 0-4.0 at day 3 for apparently clean white dent maize slurry and 5.8 at day 0-4.0 at day 3 for visibly spoilt white dent maize slurry. There was a corresponding increase in the titratable acidity from 0.2 at day 0-1.1 at day 3 and 0.4 at day 0-2.3 at day 3, respectively. This study shows a deleterious health hazard in the continuous use of aflatoxin B contaminated maize in Ogi production.