"Cries Mamie Ballo, a stout, middle-aged woman wearing a traditional Liberian lappa, touting the nation's staple food at a bustling market near central Monrovia."
Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin and ochratoxin a, are found at measurable levels in many staple foods; the health implications of long-term exposure of such toxins are poorly understood.
The virus, called ringspot, has decimated nearly all of Thailand's papaya, a staple food that many Thai people eat three times a day.
Wheat may be Pakistan's staple food, but milky chai (tea) is the national drink.
Insufficient ingestion of staple food may thus impair memory.
This is because their staple food, milkweed, is being used more and more as a garden ornament.
International farm trade has nevertheless managed satisfactorily for decades to redistribute surpluses of staple foods.
The root of this plant, eaten as a staple food in the tropics only after leaching and drying to remove cyanide. Cassava starch is also the source of tapioca.
