The prevalence of aflatoxins in different nut samples: A global systematic review and probabilistic risk assessment

Aflatoxins are secondary carcinogenic fungal metabolites derived from the toxic various Aspergillus species. These fungi can easily infect nuts and grains. A global systematic review was done to extract data on the concentration of aflatoxins in different nuts. Besides, risk assessment was conducted on data. The scientific databases were searched systematically from 2000 to 2020. Based on the results, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) had the most frequency in nut samples. The mean concentration of aflatoxin total (AFT) and AFB1 in nuts were as follows: peanut (37.85, 32.82 mu g/kg), pistachio (31.42, 39.44 mu g/kg), almond (3.54, 3.93 mu g/kg), walnut (42.27, 22.23 mu g/kg), hazelnut (17.33, 10.54 mu g/kg), Brazil nut (4.61, 3.35 mu g/kg), and other nuts (26.22, 7.38 mu g/kg). According to country the margin of exposure (MOE) value for adult was as Argentina (21) > Congo (67) > India (117) > Bangladesh (175) > Cameroon (238) > Iran (357) > Bahrain (438) > Brazil (447) > Ghana (606) > South Africa (1017) > Egypt (1176) > USA (1505) > China (1526) > Cyprus (1588). The MOE of the consumers in some countries was considerably below the safety margin of 10,000. To conclude, nuts are highly consumed by different consumers, so it is necessary to emphasize strict control measures to prevent contamination of these foods with aflatoxins.