pnut pnut Peanut Science 0095-3679 0095-3679 American Peanut Research and Education Society 10.3146/i0095-3679-6-2-15 Articles Estimation of the Distribution of Lots of Shelled Peanuts According to Aflatoxin Concentrations1 T. B. Whitaker and J. W. Dickens 2 Agricultural Engineer and Research Leader, respectively, USDA, SEA-AR and the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, N. C. State University, Raleigh, N. C. 27650

1Paper Number 6022 of the Journal Series of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, Raleigh, N. C. The use of trade names in this publication does not imply endorsement by the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service or the United States Department of Agriculture of the product named, nor criticism of similar ones not mentioned.

 7 1979 6 2 124 126 1 10 1979 American Peanut Research and Education Society 1979 American Peanut Research and Education Society Abstract

The distribution of shelled peanut lots according to their true aflatoxin concentrations is different than the distribution of aflatoxin assays made on those lots. This difference is due to assay errors associated with sampling, subsampling and analysis. A method was developed to estimate the distribution of the lots according to their true aflatoxin concentration based on aflatoxin assays. Estimates of the distribution of the 1973, 1974, and 1975 peanut lots were computed from their aflatoxin assays which were recorded by the Peanut Administrative Committee (PAC). Fifty-five percent of the PAC assays for the 3 crop years were less than 3 parts per billion (ppb) aflatoxin, whereas the estimated lot distribution indicated that only 48% of the lots were less than 3 ppb. On the other hand, only 94% of the assays compared to an estimated 96% of the lots were less than 25 ppb.

 Key Words Peanuts; , Aflatoxin; , Lot Distribution; , Sample; , Assay