The infant flours produced in Burkina Faso are essentially a mixture of cereals and legumes. These raw materials are fre
quently contaminated with mycotoxins which pose a huge food safety and public health threat. The objective of this study
was to determine mycotoxin levels in raw materials and infant flours in Ouagadougou and to investigate the impact of decon
tamination on the raw materials used in infant flour production. A total of 22 cereals and 17 legumes as raw materials and
26 infant flour samples were analysed for aflatoxins, fumonisin B1(FB1), and ochratoxin A (OTA) by liquid chromatography
coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, while saline treatment and hand-sorting of grains in mycotoxin reduction were tested.
All the samples of raw materials and infant flours were contaminated with aflatoxins, whereas 20.5% and 38.5% of raw
materials and 57.7% and 61.5% of infant flours, respectively, were contaminated by FB1 and OTA. These decontamination
assays significantly reduced the levels of mycotoxins. AFB1 was reduced by 48% after soaking of maize for 6 h in a 6% NaCl
solution. Sorting resulted in a 92% reduction in AFB1 content in peanut. However, soaking in saline solution did not reduce
the FB1 and OTA contents. Sorting did not also reduce FB1 contents in peanut. Sorting and soaking in 6% saline solution for
6 h are production processes that lead to a reduction in the level of contamination by aflatoxins in maize and peanut used as
raw materials for infant flour production.

Decontamination · Food processing · Food safety · Infant flours · Mycotoxins