Nuts are a popular and nutritious food enjoyed worldwide, but they come with a significant challenge: mycotoxin contamination. These toxic compounds, produced by moulds, pose risks to food safety and can lead to negative health effects (liver cancer, nephrotic cancer)so product recalls or trade rejections could be caused by exceedance of regulatory limits. Below, we delve into the occurrence and impact of mycotoxins in nuts and highlight advanced solutions to ensure safety and compliance.
Why Mycotoxins in Nuts Demand Attention
Nuts show a high prevalence and very inhomogeneous distribution of mycotoxins. A recent review by Salvatore et al. (read here) explored the occurrence and diversity of mycotoxins in hazelnuts.
Food safety databases indicate that nut products have the highest incidence of mycotoxins, with the greatest concern around aflatoxin levels exceeding regulatory limits. In addition to major toxins like aflatoxin B/G and ochratoxin A, other mycotoxins, such as sterigmatocystin, are frequently reported in publications.
The Need for a Multi-Mycotoxin Approach
Given the variety of mycotoxins that can contaminate nuts, the necessity of a multi-mycotoxin approach becomes increasingly clear. Testing for all relevant mycotoxins at once ensures that even the less common but potentially dangerous toxins are detected.
While the more prevalent mycotoxins pose the highest risk of occurrence and regulatory exceedance, reviews like the one dedicated to hazelnuts can easily be applied to other nut or nut-like commodities. For instance, data on peanuts/groundnuts, pistachios, and almonds reflect similar challenges.
This highlights the importance of mycotoxin prevention and testing to protect food products containing nuts, which are a tasty and energy-rich ingredient in many diets.
Impact on Food Safety and Production
Mycotoxin contamination is a critical aspect to consider in food safety as it impacts human health and long-term risk of cancer or chronic diseases and testing is critical to avoid intoxication, trading restrictions or loss of brand trust on customer site. For example, peanut products faced recalls as recently as February 2024 due to aflatoxin exceedance, following similar issues in prior years.
Fortunately, modern testing procedures are now easy, fast, and precise, allowing for continuous monitoring of mycotoxin occurrence. By ensuring compliance with regulatory limits throughout the production chain, producers can safeguard their products and prevent recalls, border rejections, or disruptions in trading.
Advanced Solutions for Mycotoxin Testing
Get a closer look at mycotoxin detection with automation and sensitive analysis. Within just 20 minutes, modern testing systems can analyze samples, eliminating delays for production lots and mitigating risks of trading issues.
Key Solutions:
- SMART Cartridges: These innovative cartridges enable efficient and flexible sample cleanup for all types of LC analytics (HPLC/UPLC/LC-MS/MS).
- FREESTYLE ThermELUTE with AflaCLEAN SMART: Designed specifically for detecting aflatoxins B/G, this system ensures precise results with minimal manual intervention.
- CrossTOX Cleanup: A dedicated multi-toxin solution, ideal for comprehensive
testing of structurally diverse mycotoxins in combination with LC-MS/MS.
Conclusion
Mycotoxin testing is an essential step in ensuring the safety and quality of nut products. By leveraging automated systems like the FREESTYLE ThermELUTE or multi-mycotoxin solutions like CrossTOX, producers can streamline their workflows, maintain compliance, and reduce the risk of recalls or trade disruptions.
Food safety and food quality need the highest priority for customer safety, brand trust and reputation of delicious nuts. Let’s make nuts tasty and safe to eat again. Be SMART. Protect your products and your consumers today!
