Peanut hazards aflatoxins

Such analytical measurements are necessary to establish concentrations for most agents in the environment. How much benzene is present in the air at gasoline stations as a result of its evaporation from gasoline What is the concentration of arsenic in water running off the surface of a hazardous waste site where unknown amounts of arsenic were buried over many years What is the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration in fish swimming in waters next to a hazardous waste site known to contain this substance How much aflatoxin is in a batch of peanut butter The most reliable answers to these questions are those resulting from chemical analysis. 

One excellent food that illustrates this dichotomy is the peanut. First, there is a well-documented physical hazard associated with children who choke on them. Should we label peanuts to protect us from these acute hazards, which probably killed more children than exposure to any trace level of pesticide on the same peanut Secondly, some individuals are acutely allergic to peanuts or any food containing them. This is a serious problem for those sensitive individuals, and efforts continue to be made to label foods containing peanuts to alert these individuals. The main toxicological problem of peanuts and products made from them, such as my personal dietary staple, peanut butter, is the problem of contamination with molds. Aflatoxin, found in moldy peanuts, is the most potent human carcinogen known and is well documented to produce liver cancer. 

The hazardous nature of mycotoxins was first associated with a disease (mycoroxicosis) in the mid-1950s (5), however, mycotoxin-associated diseases have been known for centuries. For example, aflatoxin was isolated and identified in 1961, following a 1960 incident in which 100,000 mrkey poults in the British Isles died from eating feed containing contaminated peanut meal (5). 

---