Peanuts

Overview

This ingredient stub was created during the FDA FY2018-FY2020 Total Diet Study element-results ingest so future source ingests have a stable destination for this food matrix. FDA reports this item as TDS Food 48, “Peanuts, dry roasted, salted.” FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results

Why this commodity accumulates heavy metals

Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), also called groundnuts, are unusual among legumes in that their pods develop and mature underground. After fertilisation, the petiole elongates and pushes the developing ovary into the soil, where the pod fills over a period of 60 to 80 days in direct contact with the surrounding soil matrix. This geocarpic growth habit means the seed and its enclosing pod are exposed to soil metals throughout grain fill, in contrast to above-ground legumes (lentils, chickpeas, soy) where seeds fill in pods that hang above the soil surface. Cadmium uptake occurs primarily through root membrane transporters and secondarily through direct contact between the pod surface and the soil; both pathways contribute to seed Cd accumulation. Nickel follows a similar bioavailability-driven uptake pattern, and peanuts are consistently identified as one of the highest dietary Ni contributors in occurrence surveys (Nickel Content of Food and Estimation of Dietary Intake; Update of the Risk Assessment of Nickel in Food and Drinking Water).

Cadmium accumulation in peanuts is further documented in authoritative toxicology reviews as a characteristic of oilseed crops grown with Cd-containing phosphate fertilizers or on soils with elevated natural Cd; peanuts and sunflower seeds are specifically named as elevated-Cd crops in the canonical Cd toxicology chapter (Cadmium (Chapter 32), in Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals, Fourth Edition, Volume II: Specific Metals). The EFSA Cd opinion of 2009 identifies peanuts as a contributing source in European dietary Cd exposure assessments, reflecting their position in processed snack foods and peanut-containing products (Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain on a request from the European Commission on cadmium in food).

Heavy metal contamination profile

Per-analyte snapshot derived from the machine-readable contamination_profile in the frontmatter above. data gap indicates the literature has been reviewed for this commodity-analyte combination and no usable occurrence data was found (a finding, not a placeholder). The Key sources column shows the top 2-3 contributing sources by year and sample size, with numbered wikilink aliases.

Synthesis basis and censoring treatment

The lead, total mercury and chromium cells previously read typical [0,0] with a p95 of 0, and the total arsenic cell read a collapsed [1,5] with a p95 equal to its typical maximum of 5. Both patterns trace to leaning entirely on the three FDA dry-roasted salted composites, in which lead, mercury and chromium were non-detect at reporting limits of 4, 1 and 50 ppb and arsenic detected in two of three at a maximum of 5 ppb (FDA 2022). Because peanuts are geocarpic and fill their pods in direct soil contact, kernel-level ICP-MS surveys record materially higher and genuinely detectable concentrations, so the FDA non-detects are treated as left-censored bounds and the central ranges are anchored on the kernel datasets.

For chromium the correction is the largest: Chinese kernels ran 234 to 293 ppb across six provinces and Polish-market peanuts about 230 ppb, both far above the 50 ppb FDA limit that produced the false zero (Chen et al. 2022; Ćwieląg-Drabek et al. 2025). Total arsenic centres near 5 to 30 ppb across US, Chinese, Polish and Ethiopian kernels and peanut butter, with an upper tail reaching the Polish-market maximum of 71 ppb (Blair 2017; Bielecka et al. 2021; Belew et al. 2024; Hovanec 2004). Lead carries a heavy right tail from single high kernels (1354, 818 and 640 ppb) that drive the right tail, and mercury has only one quantified distribution, a Polish-market median of 2.46 ppb, so it stays a left-censored bound. The mining-site kernels of Zhang et al. 2026 and the US Southwest arsenic outlier of 410 ppb are extreme-tail context and do not drive any central value.

Ranges by source, region, and variety

Peanut Cd concentrations vary substantially by growing region. Sandy, acidic soils with elevated natural Cd, common in parts of West and Central Africa and certain South American growing zones, produce peanuts with higher Cd than peanuts grown on managed US or Argentine soils. US production, concentrated in Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and the Carolinas, generally shows lower Cd than African or some Asian production, but within-US variance by field and season is not negligible. Chinese peanut production covers diverse soil geographies; without origin-specific testing, Chinese peanuts represent an unknown Cd distribution. Runner, Virginia, Spanish, and Valencia types do not show consistent cultivar-level differences in Cd accumulation in the available literature; growing region soil chemistry dominates within-group variance.

Nickel occurrence in peanuts is less origin-dependent than Cd; the EFSA 2020 Ni assessment documents peanuts as a high-Ni food group across European monitoring data regardless of geographic origin, consistent with Ni being a normal soil constituent present in bioavailable form across a wide range of agricultural soils (Update of the Risk Assessment of Nickel in Food and Drinking Water). Ni in peanuts therefore does not respond to origin-based sourcing interventions as strongly as Cd.

The FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 data for dry-roasted salted peanuts (TDS Food 48, n=3) shows Cd at 35-45 ppb (median approximately 42 ppb) and Ni at 400-550 ppb, reflecting US market peanuts predominantly from US-grown sources (FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results).

Processing effects

Dry roasting at 160-175 degrees Celsius does not appreciably volatilise inorganic metals (Pb, Cd, Ni). Moisture loss during roasting means dry roasted peanut metal concentrations are slightly higher on a wet-weight basis than raw peanut concentrations from the same lot. Blanching (skin removal post-roasting) removes the seed coat; the seed coat constitutes a small mass fraction, and its contribution to the whole-nut metal burden is minor. Salting (dry surface application) does not add significant heavy metals at standard application levels.

Ingredient-derivative risk

Roasted whole peanuts represent the base form. Peanut butter (see Peanut butter) is a concentrated paste form that carries the same metal profile as the source peanuts. Defatted peanut flour and defatted peanut meal, produced as co-products of peanut oil extraction, concentrate metals above whole-peanut levels because the oil fraction (which is metal-free after refining) is removed while the metal-bearing protein and fibre matrix remains; defatted peanut flour is therefore a higher-risk derivative than whole peanuts or peanut butter on a per-unit-mass basis. Refined peanut oil contains negligible heavy metals after industrial refining (solvent extraction, degumming, bleaching, deodorisation) because metals partition to the aqueous and solid phases.

Mitigation options

Sourcing levers

Specifying peanut origin to prefer US Southeast or Argentine production over unverified African or Asian origin, supported by Cd testing of incoming lots, is the highest-impact sourcing lever for cadmium reduction. For nickel, origin specification does not reduce risk as reliably; lot-level testing is the preferred lever. Codex and EU Cd MLs for peanuts provide a minimum compliance threshold; brand QA programs may adopt tighter internal specifications given the sensitivity of peanut Cd to soil origin.

Agronomic levers

Soil liming in peanut fields to raise pH above 6.5 reduces soil Cd bioavailability and plant uptake. Avoiding application of Cd-contaminated phosphate fertilizers is a preventive measure for growers. These levers are most accessible in contracted supply chains where the buyer has influence over field management.

Processing levers

No validated commercial-scale metal-reduction processing step for whole peanuts is documented in the current corpus. Blanching provides marginal seed-coat removal. The most effective processing lever documented is avoiding co-production of defatted peanut flour in applications where Cd load is a concern, since the defatting step concentrates metals into the meal fraction.

Formulation levers

In composite products (snack mixes, granola bars, protein powders) where peanuts contribute a large share of dietary Ni, substituting a portion of peanut inclusion with seeds or other nuts that are lower in Ni per serving reduces the Ni contribution. For Cd, peanut contribution in multi-ingredient products is diluted by the overall ingredient mix, and the formulation lever is relevant primarily in high-peanut-fraction products.

Testing and QC levers

Lot-level ICP-MS testing of incoming peanuts or peanut-derived ingredients for Cd and Ni is the most direct control. Given that TDS data show consistent Cd detectability at 35-45 ppb and Ni at 400-550 ppb, both analytes are reliably above typical LODs and warrant routine monitoring in quality programmes. Third-party laboratory testing with chain-of-custody documentation provides audit-defensible evidence.

Packaging and storage levers

No quantified data on this lever in the current corpus; section will be expanded when relevant evidence is ingested.

Regulatory limits that apply

Under EU Regulation (EU) 2023/915 (EU Regulation 2023/915 maximum levels for contaminants in food), the maximum level for cadmium in groundnuts (peanuts) intended for direct human consumption is 0.10 mg/kg fresh weight, and the ML for lead in peanuts for direct human consumption is 0.10 mg/kg (Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 cadmium maximum levels). Codex Alimentarius has adopted a Cd ML for groundnuts intended for further processing that differs from the direct-consumption ML; the relevant Codex document is Codex Alimentarius — Maximum Levels for Cadmium in Food. The 17th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (2024) reviewed trace metal limits for nuts and legumes including peanuts (Report of the 17th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (REP24/CF17)). For nickel, Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/1987 set a binding EU maximum level for peanuts of 12 mg/kg (Annex I point 3.6.10.2), applying from 1 July 2025 (Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/1987 — maximum levels of nickel in certain foodstuffs); reported peanut Ni (roughly 400–550 ppb) sits well below this level. No US FDA action level for Cd or Ni in peanuts applies under the current regulatory framework; FDA Closer to Zero (FDA Closer to Zero — Program Overview) does not currently list peanuts as a priority category. EFSA’s 2020 Ni risk assessment (Update of the Risk Assessment of Nickel in Food and Drinking Water) identifies peanuts as a high-Ni food and uses European peanut occurrence data in chronic exposure modelling, providing the regulatory toxicology basis for evaluating Ni exposure from peanut consumption.

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Evidence

The normalized row-level data for this TDS food is stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv, with per-food/per-analyte summaries in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. Concentrations are retained as FDA reported them, with the reporting-limit column preserved separately; reported zeroes are not rewritten as <LOD unless a source explicitly says to do so. FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results

Routing

This node is linked from the ingredient index and the FDA TDS source routing table.

Contamination Profile State

Per-analyte state — populated, in progress, or declared data gap — is carried authoritatively in the machine-readable contamination_profile frontmatter and the contamination-profile table above. Ingredient-level values belong here; finished-product values belong on the relevant product-category page.

FDA TDS FY2018-FY2020 Occurrence Values

FDA Total Diet Study FY2018-FY2020 reports prepared/composite-food concentration distributions for this ingredient as TDS food “Peanuts, dry roasted, salted” (FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical Results). Values are in ppb-equivalent on the basis FDA reported. The full sample-level data are stored in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_element_results_samples.csv; per-analyte distributions in data/evidence/fda_tds_fy2018_2020_summary_by_food_analyte.csv. These distributions count as one source under Persistent Wiki Ingest Rule synthesis discipline; numerical values stay in body scratch until a second independent source is integrated.

References

Works cited in this page’s text, in first-appearance order. This is not the full corpus for this page; it is only what the prose above draws on. The complete set of sources is listed under Sources below. Each title links to its source record, which carries the ingest receipt, the extracted values, and the file hash of the document it was built from.

1. FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsU.S. Food and Drug Administration · FDA Total Diet Study · 2022 · www.fda.govDataset
2. Nickel Content of Food and Estimation of Dietary IntakeMari-Ann Flyvholm, Gitte Dalsgaard Nielsen, and Allan Andersen · Zeitschrift für Lebensmittel-Untersuchung und -Forschung 179(6):427-431 · 1984 · doi.org/10.1007/BF01043419Review
3. Update of the Risk Assessment of Nickel in Food and Drinking WaterEFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) · EFSA Journal 2020;18(11):6268 · 2020 · doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6268Government
4. Cadmium (Chapter 32), in Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals, Fourth Edition, Volume II: Specific MetalsNordberg GF, Nogawa K, and Nordberg M · Academic Press / Elsevier, Amsterdam · 2015 · doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-59453-2.00032-9Textbook
5. Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain on a request from the European Commission on cadmium in foodEFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) · The EFSA Journal · 2009 · doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2009.980Government
6. Determination of macro, micro and toxic element concentrations in peanuts from main peanut producing areas of China by ICP-MS: a pilot study on the geographical characterizationChen L, Ding M, Li Z, Li X, and Deng L · RSC Advances · 2022 · doi.org/10.1039/d2ra02148jReview
7. Evaluation of Cadmium, Lead, Chromium, and Nickel Content in Various Types of Nuts: Almonds, Cashews, Hazelnuts, Peanuts, and Walnuts – Health Risk of Polish ConsumersĆwieląg-Drabek M, Nieć-Leśniak J, Białek-Dratwa A, Piekut A, Kiciak A, Dziubanek G, et al. · Biological Trace Element Research · 2025 · doi.org/10.1007/s12011-024-04438-4Review
8. Evaluating Concentrations of Pesticides and Heavy Metals in the U.S. Peanut Crop in the Presence of Detection LimitsBlair BF and Lamb MC · Peanut Science · 2017Review
9. Assessment of the Safe Consumption of Nuts in Terms of the Content of Toxic Elements with Chemometric AnalysisBielecka J, Puscion-Jakubik A, Markiewicz-Zukowska R, Soroczynska J, Nowakowski P, Grabia M, et al. · Nutrients · 2021 · doi.org/10.3390/nu13103606Review
10. Heavy metals concentration and health risk assessment in peanut and date palm from Jigjiga City Markets, EthiopiaBelew AA, Besha AT, Assege MA, and Moges GW · Discover Environment · 2024 · doi.org/10.1007/s44274-024-00151-0Review
11. Arsenic speciation in commercially available peanut butter spread by IC-ICP-MSHovanec BM · Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry · 2004 · doi.org/10.1039/b402561jReview
12. Trace metal pollution and ecological effects on five crops around a typical manganese mining area in Chongqing, ChinaZhang Y, Li X, and Kong F · Scientific Reports · 2026 · doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37535-6Review
13. Report of the 17th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (REP24/CF17)Codex Alimentarius Commission, Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods · Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, Codex Alimentarius Commission · 2024 · www.fao.orgGovernment

Sources

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Update history

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