Occurrence of Aflatoxin Producing Mould in Irvingia Gabonensis (Bush Mango) Seeds Sold Within Jos Metropolis

This study was conducted to determine the occurrence of aflatoxin producing mould in Irvingia gabonensis (Bush Mango) seeds sold within Jos metropolis. The total fungal load per sample was gotten from plate count and expressed as Colony Forming Units per gram of sample (cfu/g). The aflatoxigenicity of the fungal isolates was also evaluated on Coconut Extract Agar (CEA) by exposing the reversed side of plates to 365nm ultraviolet light. The result showed that mean fungal count of I. gabonensis ranges from 3.2×10 6 to 4.0 × 10 6 cfu / g. The fungi that were implicated for the contamination of the I. gabonensis include: Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumingatus, Aspergillus parasiticus, Aspergillus niger, Peneillium chrisogenu, Verticelium leceanii, Rhizopus oryzea, Fusarium sporotrichoides and yeast. Strains of V. leceanii, yeast and A. flavus were the most predominant at 47.9%, 37.5% and 35.4% respectively. By a way of comparison, the result also showed that Bush Mango seeds from Terminus and Gadabiyu were the most contaminated, followed by Faringada and then Angwa Rukuba. Out of the 39 Aspergillus species isolated, only 4 strains exhibited aflatoxin producing potential. The presence of these aflatoxigenic mould on I. gabonensis seeds presents high health risk and calls for more regulations and periodical assessment of Bush Mango seeds sold in open markets.