Monitoring the cyanogenic potential of cassava: The trend towards biosensor development

Abstract

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important staple crop for more than 500 million people in the developing countries. It contains linamarin as the principal cyanogenic glucoside, which upon hydrolysis liberates hydrogen- cyanide. Toxicity resulting from the eating of inadequately processed cassava has been reported and there are world-wide efforts to make cassava consumption safer. An important contribution toward this is the development of methods to determine the cyanogenic potential of cassava and its products. Hence, procedures - new or modified ones - are being developed in response to the needs of the end-users. This article describes the rationale behind this development and reviews some of the more recent findings.