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Incidence of moulds and presence of aflatoxin on toasted cashew nuts (Anacardium occidentale L) in VenezuelaKeywords: aflatoxin , cashew nuts , Aspergillus flavus , Aspergillus parasiticus Abstract: The main objective of this work was to determine the incidence of fungal growth in commercial cashew nuts. The highest mould count in cashew nuts was 658.05 UFC/g (sales point 1). The incidence of moulds in cashew nuts in the first testing period was between 91,67 and 31.25% and in the second period it was between 89.58 and 62.5% for sales points 1, 2, 3 and 4. The incidence of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus in cashew nuts was 5.74% and 0.49%, respectively, and the differences were not significant. The concentrations of aflatoxins recovered from cashew nuts were between 20.67 and 11.33 ppb, for all sales points.
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