Atoxigenic Biocontrol and the Aflatoxin Interception Problem in East African Maize Systems
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Abstract
Aflatoxin contamination of maize remains among the most persistent food safety failures in East Africa, implicated in recurrent acute poisoning episodes and in chronic exposure across large populations. Biocontrol products containing atoxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus have been developed, registered, and deployed in several countries of the region, and field evaluations consistently report substantial reductions in contamination on treated crops. National contamination burdens have nevertheless remained high, which indicates a persistent gap between demonstrated biological efficacy and observed system level outcome. This narrative review synthesises evidence on aflatoxin burden, biocontrol mechanism and performance, postharvest handling, and regulatory infrastructure across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and the wider East African Community. The review draws on peer reviewed literature, regional standards, and institutional documentation published up to the middle of 2026. Findings indicate that the gap between efficacy and outcome is not explained by weakness in any single intervention, but by the very small share of regional grain that passes through any formal control point at all. The review introduces the Aflatoxin Risk Interception Framework, which models contamination control as a sequence of six interception points and treats biological efficacy and interception coverage as independent parameters at each point. The framework predicts that system level outcome is bounded by the weakest coverage term rather than by the strongest efficacy term, which reframes the policy problem from technology performance towards technology reach. Practical implications include prioritising interventions that operate before grain leaves the farm, integrating biocontrol with drying and storage rather than promoting it in isolation, and reconsidering the reliance on market entry testing in a system where most grain never enters a formal market.
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