The Effect of Sorting on Aflatoxin Reduction of Pistachio Nuts

Abstract
Sorting of pistachio lots could have an important role in their aflatoxin amount. In order to determine this effect in different cultivars, samples were divided into 7 categories: Yellow-brown stain, dark-grey stain, large, medium, tiny, damaged and non-split. Results showed that the amount of aflatoxins (using TLC-Scanner method) in pistachios without stains is low. The mean percent of yellow-brown stained nuts in Fandoghi, Ahmad Aghaei and Kale-Ghoochi cultivars were 4.6, 2.26 and 1.13 and the mean percent of grey-black stained nuts were 4.68, 4.60 and 1.16 respectively. The mean of aflatoxin in yellow-brown stained nuts were 136.25, 632.38 and 120.35 ng/g and in grey-black stained nuts were 28.68, 292.8, 7.28 ng/g respectively. With completely separating of stained nuts amount of aflatoxin in Fandoghi, Ahmad Aghaei and Kale-Ghoochi lots were decreased 89.52, 96.43 and 95.10 percent respectively. There were significant differences between the aflatoxin amounts of stained nuts in pistachio cultivars.