COLOR SORTING OF LIGHTLY ROASTED AND DESKINNED PEANUT KERNELS TO DIMINISH AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION IN COMMERCIAL LOTS

Moistened peanut kernels were inoculated with conidia of Aspergillus p arasiticus, and moistened but uninoculated kernels were incubated at a mbient temperature for 35 days. Glucose, free fatty acid, free threoni ne, proline, glycine, alanine, leucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysin e, histidine, and arginine contents increased in both types of peanuts , whereas sucrose, free glutamic acid, aspartic acid, valine, and seri ne contents decreased. When the incubated kernels were roasted at 160 degrees C for 15 min, discoloration of infected, manually deskinned ke rnels was detected by color sorting. The average aflatoxin contents in the discolored sublets of kernels inoculated with A. parasiticus and uninoculated lots were 18 200 and 12.5 ppb, respectively. When this pr ocess was applied to a commercial line, the aflatoxin content in the d iscolored sublets of 30 200-kg lots ranged from undetected to 976 ppb. Aflatoxin was not detected in kernels of unblemished sublets.