A study of the chemical inactivation of aflatoxins in peanut protein isolates and of some of their physico-chemical properties

The distribution of aflatoxins in different fractions resulting from an aqueous extraction process for raw peanuts is reported. In the protein concentrate preparation, the protein concentrates retained 81-89 [percent] of the total aflatoxins present in the starting material, crude oil 5-8 [percent] and whey fraction 3-14 [percent]. In the case of protein isolate preparation, 51-56 [percent] of the total aflatoxins remained with the isolates, 22-26 [percent] with the residue, 7-8 [percent] with the crude oil and 11-17 [percent] with the whey. Distribution of aflatoxins in the preparation of protein isolates from defatted peanut meal showed that 55-65 [percent] of the aflatoxin originally present in the meal remained with the protein isolates, 20-28 [percent] with the residue and 10-20 [percent] with the whey fraction. Several chemical reagents were tested for inactivation of aflatoxins in the protein isolates prepared from raw peanuts. The reagents tested were sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, ammonia, methylamine, benzoyls peroxide, and hydrogen peroxide