Stability of Peanuts

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea) belong to the family of legumes. Similar to other nuts, peanut is an excellent source of macronutrients and micronutrients but it is more affordable. Desirable peanutty flavor is developed during roasting, frying and other processing which enhances the palatability of peanuts. Thus, peanut has been widely consumed and used as food and feed ingredient for its nutrition value and pleasant flavor. In developing countries, peanuts have been used to combat malnutrition because peanuts are energy dense and nutrient balanced food product which provides sufficient protein, healthy lipid, dietary fiber and micronutrients. The high nutritive value of peanuts makes them a perfect substrate for fungal growth and potential aflatoxin contamination. Therefore, peanut stability includes nutrient stability, flavor stability, and microbial stability. The chemical composition changes during post-harvest curing, drying, storage, processing, and post-processing storage, thus impact the nutritional quality and flavor of peanuts. The main concern of microbial stability of peanut is mold and mycotoxin contamination which is influenced by pre-harvest practice, post-harvest handling and peanut processing. Additionally, pathogenic bacteria, particularly Salmonella has been a critical food safety issue of processed peanuts, especially, peanut butter. This chapter reviewed/discussed peanut stability during post-harvest handling, storage, processing and post-processing storage.