Nutrition

We aim to develop a pesticide against maize weevils and aflatoxin-producing fungi. It will be implemented in Tanzania. If successful, it will improve food safety and production.

More than 842 million people, mostly in the developing world, do not have enough food. Poor nutrition causes 45% of deaths in children under five. This innovation is introducing a passive (natural) aeration system to improve water quality and production in aquaculture ponds. The idea uses the notion that a pond has two layers. The top layer is oxygen rich, as plants in the water generate oxygen in daylight. The bottom layer is cold and oxygen depleted.

Between 2006-2009 in Nairobi, only 17% of the total maize sampled and 5% of feed was fit for human and animal consumption respectively. University of Western Ontario researchers have developed novel yogurts containing a bacteria that, in the stomach, sequesters certain toxins and heavy metals and degrades some pesticides. We have developed novel yogurts containing lactobacilli bacteria to sequester aflatoxins and heavy metals and degrade some pesticides. When these bacteria are added to locally produced foods, they can reduce morbidity associated with these toxins.

Wireless-based biosensor network to detect mycotoxins in maize harvesting, storage and transportation

Rhizosphere engineering through biostimulation of Quorum quenching bacteria for controlling bacterial diseases in vegetables Bacterial pathogens have been largely controlled through pesticides even though there are risks involved. Aside from the economic demerits, pesticides negatively affect animal and human health due to their direct, indirect and residual effects, and are considered as risk to biodiversity, biosafety, and environment.

A low-cost, paper-based device developed by this project will help detect E. coli bacteria and other pathogens in food and water in low-resource settings.

Mycotoxins are a threat to agriculture and human health. The issue arises when toxin formation occurs during grain drying and storage, and there is a need for novel approaches. Current efforts have concentrated in tackling wastage of grain while stored. The innovators showed that the drying stage is the most critical control point in curtailing toxin production. However, the cost of the drier prototype is too high for adoption at subsistence farmer level.

Our innovation is the PICS bag, a triple layer plastic bag that serves as an hermetic way to store grains. Sealed PICS bag deprives insect of oxygen, action that kills insects and stops mold growth decreasing food losses and aflatoxin contamination.

This project will offer a low cost technique to the street food vendors and evaluate its effectiveness for promoting a safe street food business in the capital city of Dhaka.

The project intends to identify challenges to accelerate linear growth among infants/children in low-income settings and strategies to overcome them. The study proposes delivery of an integrated package of interventions (nutritional, environmental, WASH and care) during pregnancy and early childhood in a community-based model. Using stratified randomization, the proposal has been designed in a manner that permits the assessment of the impact of these intervention packages when delivered synergistically or independently on the growth and development of the young child.