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<OL> <LI> Develop and apply a method to obtain a training set of aflatoxin contaminated peanuts and an uncontaminated control set. <LI> Use these training and control sets to establish properties indicative of aflatoxin contamination. Construct and test batch bench top sorter to detect peanuts of high aflatoxin content; adequate if they were removed to bring aflatoxin level of lot down by a factor of 10, while removing less than 2% of nuts. <LI> Construct and demonstrate a real-time, commercial size unit to do above.
We are in the process of collecting a set of whole peanuts of high aflatoxin (HiAT) content. Whole nuts are dipped in a MeOH/water blend (commonly used for extracting ground nuts) and then dried. The 'dip fluid' is analyzed for aflatoxin, using rapid MS/MS. We have shown that HiAT nuts yield HiAT 'dip fluids'. The HiAT nuts will be investigated for properties different from LoAT nuts (these properties will almost certainly include transmission NIR). HiAT and LoAT nuts will then be used as a training set to develop aflatoxin recognition algorithms. Initially, sensors for the required properties will be tested off-line. Based on such sensors and algorithms, real-time sorting equipment will be constructed to demonstrate sorting capability in commercial settings. Documents Trust with NRI, Log #17045. (Formerly 5325-42000-033-03T - 09/04).