Peanut Storage Condition and Aspergillus flavus Contamination Potential at Traditional Market Retailers in Jakarta Area

Factors affecting contamination on peanut kernel marketed in Jakarta has not been investigated yet. The purpose of the research was to investigate and evaluate the storage condition and the behavior of retailers on the way of peanuts storage and also to investigate the presence of Aspergillus flavus infection in the peanuts. The research was conducted at traditional market with 15 peanut retailers as respondents (n=15). The research stages included survey at retailer area including interview, observation, temperature and relative humidity measurements as well as peanuts analysis including moisture content, defective seeds and presence of A. flavus. The results of research revealed that the average temperature of peanut storage area at retail stalls range from 29.6 to 31.2 degrees C which is not in accordance with the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) recommendation, while the average of storage room RH ranged between 53.6-73.1% and moisture content of peanuts of 6.23-7.86% were mostly in accordance to CAC recommendation. The percentage of damage, shrivelled and splitted seeds ranged between 3.9-19.1%, 5.4-32.3% and 0.2-8.8%, respectively. The range of mean of total molds and A. flavus were 2.5-5.6 log cfu/g and 1.3-4.0 log cfu/g, respectively. Total molds had a strong correlation to damage kernels (r = 0.74), and had a moderate correlation to the temperature (r = 0.41), moisture content (r = 0.42) and behavior of retailers, especially in cleaning the ceiling (r = 0.44) and placing the storage container (r = 0.44). The presence of A. flavus had a slight correlation to relative humidity on storage (r = 0.26), and had no significant correlation to peanuts damage and all storage conditions.