Maize as a nightmare: Food safety and toxicity in rural Kenya

Abstract

This article discusses how Kenyan farmers engage with potentially toxigenic mould growing on the maize they produce, buy, process, consume and feed their animals. Aflatoxins, a group of mycotoxins produced by strains of Aspergillus flavus, can severely harm the livers of humans and animals, causing cancer, liver failure and death. Detection of the invisible, tasteless, and odourless toxins is only possible through expensive scientific testing, largely absent in rural Kenya. Yet local conceptions of aflatoxin focus on the visible mould in everyday food production and consumption practices. This includes constant inspection and separating mouldy kernels and grains during drying and storing to prevent the potentially present mould from spreading and to ensure food safety. This article investigates how practices like separating grains from maize kernels and inspecting the dried maize before grinding show how food is handled under constant, yet flawed, engagement with potential toxicity.