Browsing by Author "Fovo, Frank Peter"

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    Toxicological contamination of aflatoxins and selected heavy metals in commercially available herbal medicines: a case of Dar es Salaam region
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2019) Fovo, Frank Peter
    This study aimed at investigating toxicological contamination of aflatoxin and selected heavy metals in traditional medicines that are commercially available in three districts of Dar es Salaam region namely; Kinondoni, Ilala, and Temeke. One hundred and twenty traditional medicines were randomly collected and analyzed for aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) and few selected heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn and Pb) following standard procedures by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) respectively. The concentration of aflatoxins and heavy metals analyzed were compared to the standard permissible levels set by Codex Alimentarius Commission. The levels of aflatoxin varied significantly among districts in Dar es Salaam (p<-0.05). the results of aflatoxin B1 (which is the most acutely toxic to various species) indicated that 0.0%, 37.5% and 10.0% of the samples collected from Kinondoni, Ilala and Temeke district, respectively, had concentration of up to 0.0018 ppm, 1.8261 ppm, and 2.6934 ppm, the levels which are above permissible limits of 0.015 ppm of Aflatoxin B1 except for Kinondoni district. Together with the latter, fungal load was analyzed in all collected samples and the results shows that all samples were contaminated with varying fungal load concentration, however not significant among districts (p>0.05). On the other hand, heavy metal concentration among districts varied significantly among districts (p<0.05). in Kinondoni district, 2.5% of the collected samples had Pb contamination of up to 9.82 mg/Kg, in Ilala districts 2.5% of the samples collected had Cu level up to 54.70 mg/Kg) and 10.0% of all samples had Pb contamination of up to 9.00 mg/Kg. similarly, in Temeke district 25.0% of the collected samples were observed to have Cu contamination of up to 58.98 mg/Kg while 12.5% of samples were contaminated with Pb up to 6.72 mg/Kg. interestingly, 100% of samples collected from all three districts were contaminated with Zn above permissible levels. Generally, the finding of this study indicates that quality assurance of herbal medicines available in Dar es Salaam market is relatively poor. Therefore, it is recommended that remedial measures should be taken to emphases more on a total quality management by aseptic handling to reduce concentration of aflatoxin and heavy metal contamination to safeguard the health of the consumer. It is also imperative that public should also be made aware on the effects of these toxins associated to herbal medicines.