Toxicity profile of commercially produced indigenous banana beer

Mycotoxins, together with endotoxins, represent important classes of naturally occurring contaminants in food products, posing significant health risks to consumers. The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrence of both Fusarium mycotoxins and endotoxins in commercially produced traditional banana beer. Two brands of commercially produced traditional banana beer were collected from a local retail market in Kigali, Rwanda. Beer samples were analysed for the presence of deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisin B₁ and zearalenone (ZEA), using an enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) method. The quantification of bacterial endotoxin using Limulus amoeboecyte lysate (LAL) assay was also conducted. The contamination levels were 20 and 6.7 µg kg⁻¹ for DON; 34 and 31.3 µg kg⁻¹ for FB₁; 0.66 and 2.2 µg kg⁻¹ for ZEA in brands A and B of the beers, respectively. Results indicate that the levels of Fusarium toxins and bacterial endotoxin reported in this study did not pose adverse human health effects as a result of drinking/consuming banana beer. However, exposure to low/sub-threshold doses or non-toxic levels of endotoxins magnifies the toxic effect of xenobiotic agents (e.g. fungal toxins) on liver and other target organs. Considering Fusarium toxins and/or endotoxin contamination levels in other agricultural commodities intended for human consumption, health risks might be high and the condition is aggravated when beer is contaminated by mixtures of the mycotoxins, as indicated in this study.