U.S. Peanut Quality: Industry Priorities to Mitigate Aflatoxin Risk from Farm to Consumer

The 2019 peanut crop was the worst year in recent history for aflatoxin contamination in finished lots of shelled runner peanuts. This was largely due to excessive heat and late season drought in the southeastern US. The industry estimated that approximately 30% of finished lots failed to meet the USDA aflatoxin specifications for edible peanuts causing increased costs due to re-milling, material loss, and diversion to low value markets such as crushing for oil. As a result, the peanut industry formed the Aflatoxin Working Group at the 2020 American Peanut Council’s Winter Conference to (1) evaluate the state of the art in production, transportation, handling, storage, and processing, (2) identify the gaps in knowledge, and (3) prioritize the importance of the knowledge gaps in relation to risk of aflatoxin contamination. As a means toward meeting these objectives, the Aflatoxin Task Force organized a Peanut Quality Symposium held in Tifton, Georgia on November 29-30, 2021. This symposium was open to all interested stakeholders. This article is a synopsis of the symposium.