Screening for mycotoxins in the inoculum used for production of attiéké, a traditional Ivorian cassava product

For the production of attiéké, a fermented staple food from the Ivory Coast, a traditional inoculum consisting of mould-covered cassava tubers is used. Nineteen inoculum and five attiéké samples of different provenance were tested for contamination with the major mycotoxins ochratoxin (OTA), aflatoxin (AF) B1, B2, G1, G2 and deoxynivalenol (DON). Selected samples were also subjected to an effect-based bioassay visualising noxious impact on a test organism, the bacterium Vibrio fischeri. Neither AF nor DON were detected and only trace amounts of up to 0.2 μg/kg OTA were present in some samples, but extract fractions inhibiting the biological test system were discovered through the bioassay. Our findings suggest that the most potent fungal toxins do not present a general health hazard to attiéké consumers. Unidentified bioactive microbial metabolites, however, might still be present and affect the human or animal organism in an unknown manner.