In the humid tropics of Africa and Asia, over 90% of food wastage occurs during production, postharvest storage, processing and distribution, resulting in losses of approximately one-third of the total food produced prior to reaching the consumer. This represents an enormous drain on the food systems of these countries and thwarts efforts to increase food supplies to address the anticipated increases in population and the current malnutrition and childhood stunting problems that are concentrated in these same regions. Yet, a recent Rockefeller Foundation study found that only $14 million of philanthropic funding in the U.S. (2008-2012) was directed toward reducing food waste, or 5% of the $260 million spent on increasing agricultural productivity.

These losses for dry commodities (i.e., grains, pulses, nuts) are primarily due to storage at high moisture content (MC) that allows fungal and insect growth. In addition, the same high relative humidity (RH) conditions enable growth of fungi that produce highly toxic compounds such as aflatoxin that accumulate in commodities during storage. In addition to direct toxic effects associated with immune-system suppression, growth retardation, and death in both humans and domestic animals, aflatoxin interacts with hepatitis B to cause liver cancer, resulting in over 170,000 new cases each year. Over 25% of the global food supply is contaminated and over 4.5 billion people are chronically exposed to aflatoxin in their foods. Solving the joint problems of food spoilage and aflatoxin accumulation in storage would have enormous health benefits for target populations in the tropics where the combination of high rainfall, humidity and temperature provide ideal growth conditions for spoilage organisms.