Fungal and mycotoxin problems in the nut industry

The industry of tree nuts has an important impact on the economy of several countries and the raw materials are obtained by cultivating or extracting the nuts from forests. Tree nuts are excellent sources of nutrients and preventing diseases. In contrast, they are affected by environmental factors, the nut species, varieties or cultivar and processing temperatures. They can favor some mycotoxin fungi producers, such as, Aspergillus and Penicillium species, common in some nuts and their by-products. Mycotoxins can cause economic losses and there is objective evidence of mycotoxin toxicity to man and animals. In this context, the objective of this review is to present some of the tree nuts and peanuts most commonly associated fungi and mycotoxins.