Aflatoxin in respirable airborne peanut dust.

Laboratory shelling and pilot handling operations were conducted to determine if peanut dust generated by such operations contained significant amounts of aflatoxin. Air samples were collected from points of highest dust concentration. No aflatoxin B1 was detected in dust from uncontaminated lots. Aflatoxin B1 levels of 700 ppb and 7.6 ng/m3 were detected from highly contaminated lots. The contamination of the dust was directly proportional to the contamination of the lots handled or shelled. In the shelling tests, the level of contamination of the dust samples was about one-ninth of the level of contamination of the peanuts. In the handling tests, the level of contamination of the dust samples was about half the contamination level of the peanuts. These results indicate that most of the contaminated dust was probably removed by handling operations prior to shelling. Although workers are not routinely exposed to such levels of contaminated dust, these findings suggest the need for a more thorough study of peanut dust during handling or processing of contaminated peanuts.