Authors:
Clara Darko
, Parameswaran Kumar Mallikarjunan, Maria Balota
, Emmanue Anokye
Frimpong
, and Komla Dizisi
|
Abstract:
This study was designed to determine the effect of pre-storage treatments and packaging to
control aflatoxin production and quality degradation during storage of shelled under tropical
conditions. Sorted shelled peanuts were subjected to the following four pre-storage treatments:
raw-clean (Raw-Cl), raw-inoculated-with-A. flavus (Raw-Inf), inoculated-partially-roasted-notblanch (PRN-blanch), and inoculated-partially-roasted-blanch-with-discolored-nuts-sorted-out
(PR-blanch). They were stored for 26 weeks under ambient environmental conditions in Ghana
(i.e., Northern and Ashanti region). These samples were analyzed approximately every 4 weeks
for aflatoxin levels and quality (peroxide and p- Anisidine values). The results showed that There
was no significant increase of aflatoxin levels for partially roasting, and blanching peanuts over
the 26 weeks period of storage but for the raw infested peanuts in polypropylene sacks increased
slightly from about 30ppb to about 60 ppb for the storage period because of low peanut moisture
levels and low humidity
Reduction in quality as determined by p-Anisidine values was 49% for raw-clean, 29.88% for
partially-roasted-blanch and 17.6% for partially-roasted-not-blanch samples in hermetic bags.
Partially roasting and blanching peanuts can increase the effectiveness of sorting, and hence aid
in reducing aflatoxin along the peanut value-chain. Also, hermetically storing peanuts can suppress the growth of aflatoxigenic fungi and the production of aflatoxin under tropical ambient
conditions. |
