Abstract
Aflatoxins, carcinogenic toxins produced by Aspergillus fungi, contaminate maize, peanuts, and tree nuts in many regions of the world. Pistachios are the main source of human dietary aflatoxins from tree nuts worldwide. Over 120 countries have regulations for maximum allowable aflatoxin levels in food commodities. We developed social network models to analyze the association between nations’ aflatoxin regulations and global trade patterns of pistachios from 1996–2010. The main pistachio producing countries are Iran and the United States (US), which together contribute to nearly 75% of the total global pistachio market. Over this time period, during which many nations developed or changed their aflatoxin regulations in pistachios, global pistachio trade patterns changed; with the US increasingly exporting to countries with stricter aflatoxin standards. The US pistachio crop has had consistently lower levels of aflatoxin than the Iranian crop over this same time period. As similar trading patterns have also been documented in maize, public health may be affected if countries without aflatoxin regulations, or with more relaxed regulations, continually import crops with higher aflatoxin contamination. Unlike the previous studies on maize, this analysis includes a dynamic element, examining how trade patterns change over time with introduction or adjustment of aflatoxin regulations.
Highlights
Aflatoxins, produced by the foodborne fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, primarily contaminate food crops such as maize, peanuts, and tree nuts in tropical and subtropical regions of the world [1]
The time-series network modeling analyses conducted in this study suggest that the global pistachio market is segregated based on aflatoxin regulations worldwide, with the top exporters, the United States and Iran, exporting to nations with strict standards and relaxed/non-existent standards, respectively
Since 2003, the United States (US) has been exporting the majority of it pistachios to countries with stricter aflatoxin standards than Iran
Summary
Aflatoxins, produced by the foodborne fungi Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, primarily contaminate food crops such as maize, peanuts, and tree nuts in tropical and subtropical regions of the world [1]. Over 120 countries have regulations for aflatoxins in food as of 2003, the last year in which the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations compiled aflatoxin regulatory standards [7]. This is an increase of 30% compared to 1995 [8] in terms of number of countries with aflatoxin maximum levels (MLs). These regulations are meant to protect human health by decreasing dietary exposures to aflatoxin [7,9]. In addition to the increase in the total number of countries regulating mycotoxins, the number of commodities/products that are being regulated on aflatoxin contamination levels within each country has increased from 1995 to 2003
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
