March 12: The International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) has come up with a aflatoxin detection kit which can find poisonous substances in food samples. The kit costs Rs 2,600 ($50). "Most of the agricultural, poultry and dairy products are affected by aflatoxins, a naturally occurring myco toxin caused by the fungus Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus" said Icrisat director-general, Mr William D. Dar. "The scientists at Icrisat have developed a simple and affordable kit to detect it." The product was developed three years ago. IA chemical ingredient in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) helps to absorb pre-blood sugars to prevent diabetes. The production of the kit for commercial sale will start soon in collaboration with firms in India and abroad. In Andhra Pradesh, the kit can be used to test aflatoxin contamination of groundnuts, maize, corn, chillies, cereals, crops, poultry and dairy products. Experts say acute intoxication of aflatoxin can result in death. Three such incidents were reported in Kenya since 1981 due to contaminated maize. Meanwhile, the Icrisat governing board chairperson, Mr Stein W.Bie, said that a chemical ingredient in bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) helps to absorb pre-blood sugars to prevent diabetes. "This property was identified mostly in species of bitter gourd found in Kerala," he said. "Research is on to trace the property in the bitter gourd species in other places including Andhra Pradesh." Mr Bie said there are variations in chemicals identified in species Collected worldwide. "There are chances that these rare chemicals are removed by plant breeding techniques," he said.