Care should be taken to eliminate infested, dirty, moldy, or rancid nuts from shipments. Nuts are insect-infested if they contain live or dead insects, whether larvae, pupae, or adults, or if they show definite evidence of insect feeding or cutting, or if insect excreta pellets are present. Dirt- Nut meats may become dirty because of insanitary conditions during cracking, sorting, and packaging. Nut meats occasionally are moldy in the shell and bear fruiting mold or mold hyphae. Nuts in this class have an abnormal flavor characterized by rancidity.
Rancid nuts are frequently soft and have a yellow, dark, or oily appearance.
Extraneous Material- Stems, shells, stones, excreta should not be present. The aflatoxins are a group of chemically related substances produced naturally by the growth of certain common molds of the Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus species. The aflatoxins, especially aflatoxin B1, are highly toxic, primarily causing acute liver damage in exposed animals. Aflatoxin B1 also exhibits highly potent cancer-producing properties in certain species of experimental animals. Based on studies of certain population groups, it is suspected that the consumption of aflatoxin containing foods is associated with liver cancer in humans, particularly in developing nations.