Decontamination of aflatoxin B1 in peanuts using various cooking methods.

Abstract

Peanut and its processed products are recurrently contaminated with aflatoxins (AFs) which are of potential public health concern. Among the different types of AFs, Aflatoxin B1 (B1) is the most frequently detected in peanuts over the maximum level (ML),and thus has warranted considerable research interest in the domain of food safety. In this study, we investigated the decontamination of B1 in three naturally-incurred lots (4, 12, and 40µg/kg)of peanuts bya range of cooking treatments, including frying, pressure cooking, and roasting.B1 concentrations were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography- fluorescence detection. The method provided a limit of quantification of 0.25µg/kg for B1, which was much lower than any of its national and internationalMLs.The recoveries of B1 in fresh and cooked peanuts (positive-control) werein the range of 90-100%. Overall, all the cooking methods demonstrated a significant reduction in B1 loads.The degree to which theprocessing methods reducedthe B1 content followed the pattern: roasting with a combination ofNaCl and citric acid > pressure-cooking with a combination ofNaCl and citric acid > frying.As the cooking procedures did not involve any complicated steps or sophisticated equipment, these could be readily adopted for decontamination orreductionin the level of B1 for a safer consumption of peanuts at the household level without affecting the organoleptic properties.