Italian firm targets to sell between 200 and 300 Aflaboxes to private sector in Kenya this year Aflabox CEO and co-founder Luca Alinovi with Aflabox president Fabrizio Cardillo display their Aflabox which provides data driven solution to aflatoxin / HANDOUT Millers in Kenya are now taking up real-time aflatoxin testing technology with a keen focus on a recent Italian innovation, slowly ditching lengthy laboratory processes that have been in place.
According to the Cereal Millers Association (CMA) and milling industry experts, millers and aggregates that supply grains have, over the years, suffered losses due to a lack of easily available means to test aflatoxin on grains. They are forced to take samples to laboratories that are far from their areas of operation, leading to losses when aflatoxin is detected after deliveries have already been made.
“The industry has grappled with aflatoxin contamination for years, despite ongoing efforts including self-regulation and improved quality controls. We have been working to address this problem, but it remains significant,” CMA chief executive, Paloma Fernandes, said, noting that technology is now the way to go.
Kizito Odhiambo, founder and CEO of Agri Bora, an aggregate in the milling industry that supplies maize to millers, said some companies have strict aflatoxin requirements, with many deliveries being rejected. This has seen suppliers selling products at throwaway prices, leading to losses.
“One of the main challenges we have been facing as an aggregate has been the challenge of assessing the quality of the grain during aggregation at the field level,” he said. Odhiambo said after aggregating the commodity, they have to wait until it gets to the lab to get tested and results given, a process that affects the industry, from farm to millers.
“You realise that maize has high aflatoxin when it is too late, and delivery has already been done, meaning you have to look for other options,” he said. The industry backed by CMA is now taking up an Italian innovation dubbed Aflabox, the first to be introduced to the Kenyan market, which allows real-time testing.
Aflabox, co-founded by Luca Alinovi and Fabrizio Cardillo from Italy, is an artificial intelligence-powered screening system that allows users to scan agricultural commodities and detect aflatoxin contamination within seconds. This is a significant departure from conventional laboratory testing, which is often costly, time-consuming and inaccessible to many farmers and traders.
Beyond rapid testing, the system is designed as a data ecosystem. Each scan generates geolocated information using integrated GPS, feeding into dashboards that map contamination patterns, product origin and quality variations across regions. The firm has reported increased inquiries in the Kenyan market, with supplies expected to begin by the end of May, with several millers and aggregates having already pre-ordered.
The firm’s successful entry into the Kenyan market is pegged on the recent CMA Annual Technical Conference and Expo 2026, which brought together more than 70 companies. “We got a lot of exposure during the expo, which has now seen us come in to give a solution,” Alinovi said.
The firm targets to sell between 200 and 300 boxes this year to the private sector in Kenya. “We also intend to engage the government and we are ready to deliver if it needs the technology,” he said, noting that the government also needs a simple solution to test aflatoxin without spending weeks or months in labs.