The occurrence of aflatoxin in nuts and nut products imported to Finland for human consumption during the years 1974-1976.

An examination was made of 1050 lots of nuts and nut products, totalling 4.7 million kg, imported to Finland in the years 1974-1976. Of these, 44 lots (4.2%) were found to contain aflatoxin. The highest percentage of aflatoxin-containing lots, was observed in the case of sliced and crushed peanuts (29.4%). Of the positive samples, 20.5% contained 101-500 microgram aflatoxin per kg, 52.3% contained 6-100 microgram/kg and 20.5% contained less than or equal to 5 microgram/kg. Rest of the samples (6.7%) contained aflatoxin 501 microgram/kg or more. The most commonly detected toxin types were B1 and B2. The proportion of aflatoxin-containing lots showed a slight decrease during the 3-year research period. On the basis of the research results and the sampling plan used, and bearing in mind the acceptable quality level (AQL: 5 microgram/kg) employed in Finland, the reliability of approval and rejection decisions was discussed from the point of view of both the producer's and the consumer's risk.