aflatoxin in raw and salt-roasted nuts (pistachios, peanuts and walnuts) sold in markets of tabriz, iran

background: nuts are one of the main consumed snacks worldwide and also have an important role among iranian's food habits. natural contamination of nuts with aflatoxin is unavoidable and causes a special challenge for nuts safety and quality. objectives: the purpose of this research was to study the aflatoxin contamination in commercially-available nuts (pistachio, walnut and peanut) in the markets of tabriz, iran. materials and methods: sixty two samples of 50 g salt-roasted peanuts and pistachios and 109 samples of 50 g pure pistachios, walnuts and peanuts were collected from different areas of local markets. after the initial preparations, elisa test was performed for aflatoxin measurement. results: result showed that walnut (90%) and pure pistachio (2.3%) were the most and least contaminated samples, respectively. mean aflatoxin contamination in the salt-roasted samples (19.88 ± 19.41 µg/kg) was significantly higher than the pure ones (6.51 ± 9.4 µg/kg) (p < 0.001). respectively, 58.6%, 48.4% and 47.6% of salt-roasted pistachios, salt-roasted peanuts and walnut samples had aflatoxin contamination, which were more than the maximum tolerated level of iran (mtl, 15 ppb). conclusions: it was concluded that aflatoxin content of nuts should be monitored regularly to minimize the risk of aflatoxin hazard and ensure the food safety and quality.