A research scientist has described as misleading a recent TikTok video that links moulds in tomatoes to Aflatoxins, which it says causes lung cancer in humans.
“The video may be raising false alarm in relation to Aflatoxin and brings unsubstantiated information that it causes lung cancer,” Dr Mrs Rose Omari, a Principal Research Scientist, Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of CSIR, has said.
Dr Omari, in an interview with the GNA in Accra, explained that she had not come across any research in Ghana that proved that moulds found in tomatoes produced Aflatoxin and could lead to lung cancer as speculated in the TikTok video.
Research had confirmed that Aflatoxin rather caused liver cancer, however, a few studies had found an association between aflatoxin and lung cancer, she said.
“It is good to advise the people to avoid mouldy tomatoes but linking it with Aflatoxin could be misleading if no tests have been conducted to confirm the presence of the toxins,” Dr Omari said.
“From where she (Tiktoker) was coming from, just the mere fact that the tomatoes have moulds, should not make her conclude that they have Aflatoxin, that is wrong and can cause fear and panic considering the importance of tomatoes in our diets.”
“I have not seen any test that has found Aflatoxin in tomatoes. We have to verify by going to the lab first.”
Dr Omari, however, said the education by the Tiktoker for people should avoid rotten tomatoes was good and should be adhered to because of the many harmful bacteria and microbial toxins that could be found in such tomatoes.
She explained that even apart from the moulds, the rotten tomato could be full of bacteria that also produce all kinds of toxins, which no amount of cooking could remove from it and could lead to various health consequences.
“Such toxins in tomatoes when cooked and eaten can cause food poisoning resulting in symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting etc.
She, therefore, cautioned that any unusual thing on food should be treated as suspicious “because we can’t see bacteria with the naked eye and even for the moulds that are visible, you need a trained eye to determine whether they are the aflatoxin-producing moulds or not, so just avoid such food items.”
She urged Ghanaian researchers to rise to the occasion and research more into aflatoxin in different food commodities, including mouldy tomatoes, and in emerging food safety issues to determine why some food items got spoiled these days within a short period during the storage process.
Aflatoxin contamination is said to be highly prevalent in Ghana and mostly affect staple foods such as raw and processed products of maize, groundnut, sorghum, millet, kokonte (dried partially fermented cassava) and spices.
Also animal products such as meat, milk, fish and eggs are affected, causing various ill-health and rejection of our food imports.
Aflatoxin exposure can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and convulsions acutely, and its chronic exposure can also lead to complications like liver damage, liver cancer, and immune suppression.
Dr Omari doubles as the Project Coordinator of the National Policy for Aflatoxin Control in Food and Feed, launched in Ghana last year.
