Physical, chemical and microbial quality of peanuts collected from different sources of the marketing chain

Abstract

Groundnut is a healthy food by the presence of calcium and magnesium, vitamin E, oleic acids, fibre, arginine, and phenolic compounds. Relates to human health, however, peanut is susceptible to Aspergillus flavus infection and aflatoxin contamination. The study aims to evaluate the physical and chemical quality, aflatoxin B1 contamination, and phenolic content of peanuts collected from farmers, collectors, wholesalers, and retailers at Sinjai District, South Sulawesi, Indonesia during wet season. The results showed that intact seeds reduced from 82.8% in farmer’s level to 75.9% in retailers at traditional markets, as the increase of shrivelled and damage kernels. The average moisture content in marketing chain was 9.5%, which was higher than 8% as recommended. The infection of A. flavus was high in big traders and drastically reduced in retailer level. Aflatoxin B1 contamination went up from farmer to retailer beyond the permitted level of 15 µg kg−1. Total phenolic contents of peanuts collected from marketing chain ranged from 42.6 – 88.6 mg GAE/g that 60-80% lower than the ones contained by the newly harvested peanuts (81.9 – 116.6 mg GAE/g). Reasonable low physical quality and potentially high aflatoxin contamination of peanuts in retailer level suggest the essential of good handling practices to be introduced to peanut stakeholders.