It makes an argument for why the allergies started in 1980, but not why it persists until today.

I think he means that the added ingredients cause that immune reaction in some particular combination with that food and fungi; That is still applicable today, isn't it? Hence proposed solution, if the assumption is right, make your own at home (with good peanuts) and of course without added ingredients as they do in factory;

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lmz 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Did they not use emulsifiers before 1980? Or is the aspergillus somehow persistent after 1980?

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tancop 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What added ingredients? Most of the time it's salt, sugar and palm oil. All of them are natural and used in just about every industrial food. Sugars and fat are already present in peanuts.

Could be salt killing bacteria that normally compete with the fungus but I don't think the concentration is enough for that. Maybe it's a specific type of fatty acid found in palm oil or a solvent left over from the extraction process.

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Smoosh 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If it is “added ingredients”, couldn’t some PB without be sourced? Mine at home says “peanuts (90%), sugar, fractionated palm oil, salt”. I know that some can be purchased which are pure peanut, with no additives.

	▲	simon_void 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		it's not like aflatoxin would show up in "added ingredients". It's not meant to be there. (If you haven't read the text, the author's thesis is that it that a few fungi infected peanuts make it through quality control.)