Brazil nuts

[gillywilly97]

Where were all the unshelled brazil nuts this Christmas? I could buy shelled ones (expensive and not nearly so much fun) - but there were no bags of unshelled brazils and they were conspicuous by their absence in bags of mixed nuts.

[babydust]

holland and barrett

[shaneystar2]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that there was some kerfuffle over toxins ....and the Food nannys think we are all in danger ! I have been eating them for years and the ones covered in chocolate and am still here .....
Found this link for you...so perhaps the supermarkets are erring on the side of caution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4065611.stm

[Im a BusyBee]

i had heard there is apparantly a toxin in the shells too - dunno why we arent all ill or dead from ones weve had in previous years?!!

[gillywilly97]

Thanks folks!

[Buenchico]

I know you posted this question over a month ago but I've just heard a 30 minute documentary, on BBC World Service, about the problems faced by Brazilian nut producers, so I thought I'd pass on some information.

When consignments of unshelled Brazil nuts are received in the EU, they can't be distributed until samples of the nuts have been tested. This is done by crushing the unshelled nuts and checking for the presence of toxins caused by fungal growths. The acceptable limit is 4 parts per billion. The majority of consignments were showing levels many times the permitted limits. (Up to 400 parts per billion). When a consignment fails the test, the producer either has to pay for his shipload of (probably unsaleable) nuts to be sent back to Brazil or they're destroyed without any compensation being paid.

This means that it is no longer viable for Brazilian nut producers to send unshelled nuts to the EU. Shelled nuts are hand-sorted and any suspect nuts are removed. Consignments of shelled nuts are thus able to pass the toxins test and to be placed on sale in EU shops.

Chris

[gillywilly97]

Thanks Buenchico. It does make you wonder, as I'm a busybee said, how we ever survived before the EU came along!