Nut products

Most nuts for commercial use are characteri2ed by high oil and protein contents (see Proteins) as well as a low percentage of carbohydrates (qv). However, some varieties, mostly inedible tree nuts such as acorn, horse chestnut, and chufa, contain at least as much sugar and/or starch as protein. The edible water chestnut is also in this category, as is the cashew nut, which contains starch in addition to a rich store of oil. The proximate composition of a number of nuts and of some nut products are given in Table 2 (3). 

Nut Products. Peanut products iaclude peanut flour, Hpoproteia, proteia, milk, and partially defatted peanuts (109). Pecan butter is made from dry roasted meats, ground to a very fine state, and mixed with salt (2% of final weight), hydrogenated fat (1.5%), and the antioxidant butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) (131). 

Nuts and Nut Products. Nuts are used mainly as edible products and marketed either with or without the shell, as the demand requites. The most popular nuts ia the shell are English walnut, filbert, almond, Brazil nut, peanut, pistachio, and the improved, or paper-shell, pecan the most popular salted and roasted nut kernels iaclude these as well as the cashew, macadamia, and pignofla. Each year more nuts are shelled ia ceatraHy located plants and marketed as meats. The annual per capita consumption of shelled tree nuts ia the United States rose from 0.78 kg in 1987 to 1.00 kg in 1992 (132). 

Partially Defatted Nuts. There is considerable demand for nuts and nut products of reduced fat content. Almond meal and peanut meal are examples of products having low fat content achieved by pressing oil from the nuts and by grinding the cake. Much of the flavor is in the oil defatted nuts are thus less tasty. 

J. G. Woodroof, Tree Nuts Production, Processing Products, Avi Publishing, Westport, Conn., 1979. 

U.S. exports of the other oilseeds are smaller and foUow different patterns (50). Exports accounted for only 2—3% of the cottonseed crop and 16—31% of the processed oil production for 1991—1994. Of the peanut crop ca one-half is consumed domestically as whole nut products and 15—20% is exported. Only about 10% of the sunflower seed crop is exported. From 1991 to 1994 an average of 70% of the oil was exported, but only about 11% of the meal was shipped overseas. 

Spend on average US 4 per month on snack products. The individuals were quite aware of the health benefits of roasted nut products, including high levels of protein and unsaturated fats. 

Grain and Nut Products (the majority of an individual product is a grain or nut)... 

The accompanying table shows the number of different synthetic chemicals (i.e., either pesticides or industrial chemicals) that were detected in each Market Basket and the average number of contaminants for each grain and nut product. 

When reviewing the grain and nut product table, it should be noted that many of the products may have been prepared with milk, eggs, margarine, butter, or oils (or cooked in oil). However, the composition of these products is dominated by a grain. As a result, these products do not accurately represent what is specifically in a given pure com, oat, wheat, or rye product. Furthermore, all of the food products listed were commercially produced or prepared unless they are marked as homemade. 

Even with the added ingredients to many of these products, the FDA data do suggest that wheat-based products consistently have more chemical contaminants than corn, rice, and oat-based products. As a whole, corn-based products are the least contaminated. Furthermore, products containing oils (e,g., nut products) or cooked in oils (e.g., popcorn and chips) tend to be more contaminated. These data show that the nut products are the most contaminated foods (particularly peanut butter). Once again, this is probably due to the high content of peanut oil. 

Just like the previous categories, some USDA certified organic grain and nut products will, however, be contaminated with banned pesticides. 

Aflatoxin Bi Cereals, nuts, nut products and dried fruits (mostly imported) 0.002 1... 

Walnuts are large, deciduous trees bearing separate male and female flowers on the same plant. To get the heaviest nut production, plant 2 different cultivars for cross-pollination. The most commonly grown types are black walnut Julians nigra) and English walnut... 

Food Standards Agency 2002. Survey of nuts, nut products and dried tree fruits for mycotoxins. March 5, 2004http //www.foodstandards.gov.uk/science/surveillance/fsis-2002/21nuts and http // www.foodstandards.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/21nuts.pdfMarch 5, 2004. 

Shellfish and shellfish products. Cereals and cereal products, eggs and egg products, fish and fish products, dairy and dairy products, peanuts and peanut products, soybeans and soybean products, tree nuts and tree nut products, and sulfites (only when lOppm)... 

Woodruff, J.G. 1979. Tree Nuts Production, Processing, Products. AVI Publishing, Westport, CN. http //www. fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/ Economic/faodef/FDEF05E.HTM. 

TABLE 13.5 CHANGES in WORLD CASHEW NUT PRODUCTION (tons)... 

A rather more conservative estimate of the trend in world cashew nut production has been made (ref. 173) which takes account also of the drop in African production in the early eighties and the rise in Latin American output. These figures are shown in Table 5. 

Tree nuts and nut products, the name of the substance must be specified in the list of ingredients. 

Several studies have described the production of antibodies to toxins, that are capable of detecting very small quantities of contaminants, such as aflatoxins in grain and nut products [37-39] and shellfish poisoning toxins [40,41]. 

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