BEIRUT: Spices are among the latest food products to receive scrutiny from the Health Ministry’s ongoing food safety campaign. Consumers may not associate spices with food safety, as they are typically low-maintenance, storable for months, and occasionally sprinkled on food to enhance flavor.
But the ministry has recently demonstrated that the Lebanese public may want to re-examine what’s sitting on their kitchen shelves, as cancer-causing substances have been found in spices sold across Lebanon.
On March 10, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour drew the nation’s attention to the high number of spices in markets across the country containing bacterial contamination and the presence of hazardous aflatoxins.
“Carcinogenic substances are entering the bodies of Lebanese citizens,” he said in his announcement.
According to food safety specialists, spice contamination happens long before products hit market shelves. Contamination is not related to the type of spice, but rather, unsafe storage conditions, which serve as the breeding ground for aflatoxins.
Maya Mokdad, project manager at the Lebanese Association for Food Safety, said that aflatoxins fall into a broader family of substances known as mycotoxins, which are produced by mold and fungi that grows on spices post-harvest, prior to processing and distribution. “When storage conditions are not correct, and if products are stored in moist, dark areas, fungi is produced. These fungi produce different types of mycotoxins, such as aflatoxins,” she said.
Mokdad explained that while some fungus and mold may be visible to the consumer, the presence of aflatoxins is not detectable. Even if the fungus itself has been killed, carcinogenic substances will remain on the spice if the fungus had sufficient time to produce them during storage. Furthermore, storing mold and fungus-laced spices alongside clean spices can lead to cross-contamination.
Mokdad said that at the retail level, where the contaminated spices were detected, business owners typically point back to the supplier as the responsible party. She agreed that suppliers were responsible, but said that “the person in charge of purchasing should check with the supplier and go to storage facilities” to see if there is contamination.
In terms of health effects, Mokdad said exposure to aflatoxins is difficult to avoid, particularly when supplies are heavily contaminated. Short-term effects of exposure include mild physical discomfort, while exposure over the long term to the B1 aflatoxin, which was repeatedly found in the ministry’s spice samples, can lead to cancer. In detail this involves continuous exposure to aflatoxins at 20 parts per billion.
Optimally, spices should be stored “where there is low light, low humidity, and away from contaminated products,” Mokdad said.
A study published in the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology in 2014 examined Lebanese exposure to aflatoxins, among other mycotoxins. It found that Lebanese are highly exposed to mycotoxins and that ingestion of Aflatoxin B1 came primarily from bread products.
Drawing from previous research, the study’s introduction characterizes mycotoxins as persistent throughout “the transformation and processing of contaminated plants, and are usually not eliminated during cooking and sterilization.” It says Aflatoxin B1 is particularly high in carcinogenic effect, and “chronic exposure to AFB1 was reported to increase the risk of liver cancer, especially when it is associated with hepatitis B or C.”
While vibrant rows of spices are a beloved staple of Lebanon’s traditional souks, buyers should proceed with caution. A 2013 article published in the Journal of food and Nutritional Disorders found that spices sold “loose in open air markets” in Lebanon were more vulnerable to contamination.
Several pages of Health Ministry spice sample results were highlighted in an LBC report on March 10, 2015. Contaminated spices included cumin, black pepper, zaatar. Wafaa Houmani, of the ministry’s food safety department, reflected on these results, explaining to The Daily Star that samples came from a range of establishments across the country, from open air markets to supermarkets. She said the ministry conducts two kinds of analysis: one for bacteria and one for aflatoxins.
“Of the contaminated spices, half had yeast and mold, and half had [contaminants] that had developed into aflatoxins,” Houmani said.
She added that yeast and mold may or may not progress to a point where aflatoxins develop. Houmani stressed the importance of storing spices in dry places “so that bacteria will not grow.”
She said the ministry’s spice investigation is continuing as part of the broader food safety campaign that was launched in November 2014. Each week inspectors collect around 250 spice samples which are sent to laboratories for analysis.
Abu Faour has vowed to destroy all contaminated spices, saying the problem extended beyond the 20 establishments initially named.
“What we are discovering is not just another ordinary thing that can be overlooked,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment