Reduction of cyanide content of cassava flour in Mozambique by the wetting method

Arnaldo Cumbana, Estevao Mirione, Julie Cliff, J. Howard Bradbury*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    66 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Fifty cassava flour samples from Mogincual District of Nampula Province in Mozambique were found to contain, on average, 43 mg HCN equivalents/kg flour (ppm), of total cyanide, which is typical for a year of average rainfall. Five gram samples of the 30 flour samples of highest cyanide content were mixed with water and left for 5 h at 30 °C and it was found that the mean% retention of cyanide was 16.7%. Using 500 g instead of 5 g samples caused an increase in the % retention due to accumulation of the very weak acid, HCN, in the damp flour mass, which also decreased its pH and somewhat reduced the rate of breakdown of linamarin catalysed by linamarase. This problem was overcome by spreading out the damp flour in an approximately 0.5 cm thick layer on a tray, which allowed the release of HCN. If the wetting/spreading method is acceptable to users it could greatly reduce the cyanide intake of the population of eastern, southern and central Africa and has the potential to eliminate konzo from Africa.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)894-897
    Number of pages4
    JournalFood Chemistry
    Volume101
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2007

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