Aflatoxin? In my powdered peanut butter?!

March 30, 2013 6:36 PM

I use this product in my smoothies that I eat quite often. How concerned should I be about aflatoxin? I am hoping someone with a deeper knowledge of the issues concerning aflatoxin and food products can shed some light on this for me. Is it likely to contaminated or not? How can I find out? What can I do to protect myself from aflatoxin in this and other products?
posted by long haired child to Food & Drink (2 answers total)

No cases of aflatoxin poisoning (aflatoxicosis) have been reported in the US, although there have been outbreaks in various other countries, including Kenya in 2004 (peanuts) and India in 1974 (maize). In both cases, the outbreaks were localized and several hundred people died.

In the US, aflatoxin concentration in food is rigorously tested and controlled. Crops that may have been affected by the fungus are destroyed, as a preventative measure.

Aflatoxicosis is just another very small risk factor of mass food production. Aflatoxin leads to localized outbreaks. It's not something that affects random individuals, and it's not something you have to watch out for personally, like mercury in tuna fish. There is no "chronic aflatoxicosis" that develops over time. The US is very good at keeping a safe food supply.

In short, you are far more likely to die as a consequence of some other kind of food poisoning, especially given that there are no cases of aflatoxicosis in the US.
posted by Nomyte at 8:31 PM on March 30, 2013 [2 favorites]

Unless you live in a developing country, you're very unlikely to get acute aflatoxin poisoning. But chronic exposure to aflatoxin has all kinds of subtle but nasty effects, some of which are cumulative at any dose. You can't really avoid aflatoxin altogether (it occurs in tiny amounts in a whole range of foods, not just peanuts, although peanuts are the most common source), but most developed countries have testing regimes that should make sure there isn't much of it even in particularly susceptible foods.

Personally, I wouldn't make peanuts a major part of my diet, but I wouldn't avoid them religiously either.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 1:46 AM on March 31, 2013