FACTORS AFFECTING PEANUT QUALITY:
We ensure that the peanuts are as safe as possible, we employ a variety of good practises measures from the field to the processing and storage of these items. A few details about these practises are highlighted below.
- Good agricultural practises: our goal is to educate growers on the guidelines and principles that must be applied to the production and post-production processes in their exploitation in order to provide a safe and healthy peanut while reducing risks such as pathogens, contaminants, and pesticides used for pest control.
- Good manufacturing practises: we outline the methods that must be followed by handlers during the processing, packing, storage, and transportation stages to ensure that product quality is maintained.
- Good storage practises: These are the methods that must be followed by handlers during the post-harvest, processing, and shipping stages in order to regulate factors such as humidity content and temperature, and so reduce the risk of mould (particularly aflatoxins) and insects.
- Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), a food safety prevention method that tries to identify, analyse, and control the risk of biological, chemical, and physical hazards in manufacturing processes.
The following quality criteria are used in the production of peanuts.
- Unwanted flavours and odours, as well as insects and living mites, must be avoided.
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It is critical to consider the following quality standards, among others, at a certain level:
- The moisture content of peanuts.
- Animal impurities are the topic of this section (including dead insects).
- Moldy, rancid, or decomposed kernels are present.
- Other foreign matter, whether organic or inorganic, could be present.
CONTAMINANTS OF MICROBIOLOGICAL NATURE
When discussing peanuts and peanut varieties, it's important to take in mind the potential chemical and microbiological pollutants they may have, such as total plate count, yeast and mould presence, Enterobacteriaceae, Coliforms, E. coli, and a negative Salmonella value.
It's critical to ensure that peanut manufacturers implement the appropriate measures to detect salmonella and E. Coli, two of the most common bacteria found in processed foods that commonly cause public health issues.
- Moulds and yeasts are among the microbiological tests we conduct.
- coli is a type of bacteria.
- Salmonella spp. are bacteria that cause food poisoning.
MYCOTOXINS AND AFLATOXINS LEVELS
One of the main reasons why a certain peanut batch could be considered unsafe for food in the European Union is the presence of mycotoxins, particularly aflatoxins — chemical substances generated by toxicogenic mould strains such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger.
The maximum allowable levels of aflatoxins in peanuts vary by place of origin, and these values frequently alter in legislation, which is why it is critical that your supplier is conversant with these requirements and can provide you with as much assistance as possible.
SENSORY ATTRIBUTES AND PHYSICAL PARAMETERS ANALYSIS
The following are the sensory attributes:
- Visual characteristics: These refer to the product's appearance. Color, size, homogeneity of colour and size, and so forth.
- Organoleptic characteristics: These refer to the product's odour and flavour. Saltiness, odd flavours or odours, and so on.
- Textural characteristics: This refers to the product's texture. Firmness, crunchiness, and other characteristics
Before selling our peanuts to industrial companies, we do the necessary sensory studies at Farmkart Foods to ensure that they are of the highest quality.
