Peanut addicts concerned about the potential harm of their addiction can heave a sigh of relief.
The verdict is out: their favourite peanuts and peanut products are free of the two most dreaded substances, namely, Salmonella and Aflatoxin.
Salmonella, a pathogenic bacteria, is a common cause of food poisoning while Aflatoxin is carcinogenic (cancer-causing) to the liver.
Their absence was confirmed in a Consumer Council test on a diverse range of 50 peanut products - peanut butter, biscuits, cookies, pastry, candies, glutinous rice balls as well as peanut kernels.
In addition to Salmonella and Aflatoxin the test also examined the peanut products for their content of toxic heavy metals.
No lead was detected in the samples.
Cadmium, however, was found present in 23 of the samples, ranging in quantity from 0.05mg/kg to 0.57mg/kg.
2 of the cadmium-contaminated peanut samples were found to be in excess, albeit slightly, of the limit (0.5mg/kg) set out in the GB2762-2005 standard of the mainland, with 0.51mg/kg and 0.57mg/kg respectively.
The kidney is particularly sensitive to cadmium chronic toxicity; the adverse effects to humans include abnormal excretion of protein, amino acid and glucose in urine due to renal tubular dysfunction.
If you weigh 60kg and consume daily 105g (approximately 160 kernels) of the peanut sample containing 0.57mg/kg cadmium, you are marginally within the safety limit of cadmium under the JECFA's Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake (PTWI) of 7µg per kg body weight.
Besides the health concern with cadmium, excessive consumption of peanuts may lead to obesity as they provide much calories and fat.
The advice of dietitians is to adopt a balanced diet to minimize the risk of excessive consumption of any particular foodstuff. In terms of nuts intake, consume a mixture of nuts 3 times a week, at 28g each time.
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