Aflatoxin B 1 exposure through peanuts worldwide: national level occurrence and exposure assessment

in peanut food products in 106 nations. We then conducted a dietary exposure assessment based on this occurrence dataset and consumption of peanuts in these nations, to compare trends across the time periods from 1990 to 2024. 22 nations experienced a substantial increase in aflatoxin exposure through peanut consumption, and 22 nations experienced a substantial decrease. Changes in exposure are largely driven by changes in intake levels. Many sub-Saharan African populations have alarmingly high levels of aflatoxin exposure, due to high contamination coupled with high consumption. Detection methods are shown to demonstrate recent improvements in sensitivity. These findings are important given the health risks of high aflatoxin exposure; most notably liver cancer.