Browsing by Author "Darko Godfred"

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    Dietary Risk Assessment Due to the Consumption of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon in Two Commonly Consumed Street Vended Foods
    (Taylor & Francis, 2020) Ankar-Brewoo Gloria Mathanda; Darko Godfred; Abaidoo R. C; Dalsgaard Anders; Johnson Paa-Nii; Otoo Ellis William; Brimer Leon
    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are present and pervasive in the environment. Handling of the foods by the vendors is therefore likely to introduce PAHs into the meals. Quantification of PAH was made usingvHPLC-FID and consumption data by face–face interviews with 188 regular consumers for the vendors. Data obtained were iterated 10,000 times using palisade @risk software and results presented at 95th percentile level of consumption showing the worst case scenario. Dietary risk assessment of 12-priority PAHs was carried out on the components of two staple foods in Ghana. Naphthalene was detected in all food samples at concentrations ranging from 1.7 to 6.5 mg kg21 at 95th percentile consumption level. Benzo(a)pyrene and dibenz-a,h-anthracene were detected in fried chicken samples with the stochastic concentrations of 1.2E–02 mg kg21 and 3.2E–03 mg kg21, respectively, at the 95th percentile level of consumption. Incremental life cancer risk values fell within the deminis value of 1026 to 1024 except at the 95th percentile level of consumption of chicken, hot pepper sauce, and soup components of the meals which were higher(1023). The 95th percentile level of consumption of fried rice meal as well as the 50th and 95th percentile level of consumption of the fufu meal had a hazard index above 1, indicating consumers may be suffering the non carcinogenic effects due to PAH in the respective meals. The study, there fore, showed that high consumption levels of the street vended foods are likely to cause dietary risk to the health of its consumers
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    Health risks of toxic metals (Al, Fe and Pb) in two common street vended foods, fufu and fried-rice, in Kumasi, Ghana
    (Elsevier, 2020) Ankar-Brewoo Gloria Mathanda; Darko Godfred; Abaidoo R. C; Dalsgaard Anders; Johnson Paa-Nii; Otoo Ellis William; Brimer Leon
    The preparation practices, handling and raw materials for street food vending could be sources of toxic metals in street food vending business which is yet to be explored in depth as microbial contamination. The concentrations and dietary risk of the toxic met als Al, Fe, and Pb were assessed in fufu and fried-rice, two commonly consumed street vended foods in Ghana. The mean concentrations for Pb found to be between 3.30 and 11.25 mg kg−1 in the cooked foods, far exceeded the maximum tolerable daily intake of 0.3 mg kg−1 body weight per day for consumers. Al and Fe concentrations were between 3.04 and 18.49 mg kg−1 and 1.44 and 7.82 mg kg−1, respectively. Hazard index was less than 1 at the 5th percentile level of consumption, but greater than 1 at the 50th and 95th percentile level of consumption; indicating risk of metal toxicity with increasing proba bility as the level of consumption and HI increase. The patronage of street vended foods is unlikely to reduce. Hence vendors must be educated on safe preparation and handling processes such as the use of stainless steel utensils will likely reduce the levels of the toxic metals to acceptable levels.
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    Occurrence and risk assessment of antibiotics in water and lettuce in Ghana
    (Elsevier, 2017) Azanu David; Styrishave Bjarne; Darko Godfred; Juhl Weisser Johan; Abaidoo R. C; 0000-0002-1235-2252
    Hospital wastewater and effluents from waste stabilization ponds in Kumasi, Ghana, are directly discharged as low quality water into nearby streams which are eventually used to irrigate vegetables. The presence of 12 com monly used antibiotics in Ghana (metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, trimethoprim, ampicillin, cefuroxime, sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin, tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline) were investigated in water and lettuce samples collected in three different areas in Kumasi, Ghana. The water samples were from hospital wastewater, wastewater stabilization ponds, rivers and irrigation water, while the lettuce samples were from vegetable farms and market vendors. Antibiotics in water samples were extracted using SPE while antibiotics in lettuce samples were extracted using accelerated solvent extraction followed by SPE. All extracted antibiotics samples were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS. All studied compounds were detected in concentrations significantly higher (p = 0.01) in hospital wastewater than in the other water sources. The highest concentration found in the present study was 15 μg/L for ciprofloxacin in hospital wastewater. Irrigation water samples analyzed had consent but effective means of removing antibiotics with removal efficiency up to 95% recorded in this study. However, some chemicals are still found in levels indicating medium to high risk of antibiotics resistance devel opment in the environment. The total concentrations of antibiotics detected in edible lettuce tissues from vege table farms and vegetable sellers at the markets were in the range of 12.0–104 and 11.0–41.4 ng/kg (fresh weight) respectively. The antibiotics found with high concentrations in all the samples were sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, cefuroxime and trimethoprim. Furthermore, our study confirms the presence of seven antibiotics in lettuce from irrigation farms and markets, suggesting an indirect exposure of humans t