Food-grade antioxidants for control of Aspergillus section Flavi and interrelated mycoflora of stored peanuts with different water activities

Passone, M.; Doprado, M.; Etcheverry, M.

Food-grade antioxidants for control of Aspergillus section Flavi and interrelated mycoflora of stored peanuts with different water activities

2009

Passone, M. | Doprado, M. | Etcheverry, M.

The inhibitory effect of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) mixture on fungal populations, Aspergillus section Flavi and aflatoxins accumulation in in-pod peanuts during storage in big bags was investigated. In-pod peanuts were previously conditioned at different water activities (0.94, 0.88, 0.84 and 0.76 aw) and treated with food-grade antioxidants. Both control and treated peanuts were stored for 6 months and sampled at monthly intervals. BHA-BHT mixture reduced the incidence of peanut fungal populations between 0.6-20.4% and between 1.2-33.1% during 1-3 and 4-5 storage months, respectively. Aspergillus section Flavi counts decreased with 36.5%, 46.3% and 77.4% in peanuts conditioned at 0.94, 0.84 and 0.76 aw levels and treated with antioxidants. At the above peanut aw conditions, the treatment applied reduced aflatoxin accumulation by 72.1%, while any effect on this metabolite production was observed at 0.88 aw. The antioxidant formulation used in this study has the potential to control aflatoxigenic populations in in-pod peanuts stored in half-permeable silos at ≤0.84 aw level.

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