title: Aflatoxin in raw and salt-roasted nuts (pistachios, peanuts and walnuts) sold in markets of tabriz, iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nuts are one of the main consumed snacks worldwide and also have an important role among Iranian's food habits. Natural contamination of nuts with aflatoxin is unavoidable and causes a special challenge for nuts safety and quality.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this research was to study the aflatoxin contamination in commercially-available nuts (pistachio, walnut and peanut) in the markets of Tabriz, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty two samples of 50 g salt-roasted peanuts and pistachios and 109 samples of 50 g pure pistachios, walnuts and peanuts were collected from different areas of local markets. After the initial preparations, ELISA test was performed for Aflatoxin measurement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Result showed that walnut (90%) and pure pistachio (2.3%) were the most and least contaminated samples, respectively. Mean aflatoxin contamination in the salt-roasted samples (19.88 ± 19.41 µg/kg) was significantly higher than the pure ones (6.51 ± 9.4 µg/kg) (P < 0.001). Respectively, 58.6%, 48.4% and 47.6% of salt-roasted pistachios, salt-roasted peanuts and walnut samples had aflatoxin contamination, which were more than the maximum tolerated level of Iran (MTL, 15 ppb).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was concluded that aflatoxin content of nuts should be monitored regularly to minimize the risk of aflatoxin hazard and ensure the food safety and quality.
authors.affiliation: Nutritional Research Center, Faculty of nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ostadrahimi
authors.affiliation: Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Fereshteh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ashrafnejad
authors.affiliation: Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolhassan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Nafiseh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sargheini
authors.affiliation: Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mahdavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health of Environment, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammadreza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farshchian
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Sepideh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahluji
keywords: Aflatoxin; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Nuts