Source: USDA ARS, 8/15/22
America's fondness for peanuts accounts for 65 percent of
all U.S. nut consumption. Per person, that equates to nearly 8 pounds of
goobers annually. But what's to be done with the estimated 40 million to 70
million pounds of peanut skins that are stripped from the nut in the process of
turning it into peanut butter, snack food, candy ingredients, oil and other
products? Ondulla Toomer, a
research chemist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Raleigh, North
Carolina has some ideas. Her studies at the agency's Food Science and Market Quality and Handling Research Unit in Raleigh suggest a range of food
and livestock feed uses that could potentially open the door to new,
value-added markets for peanut skins. Instead of landfill waste, Toomer sees untapped nutritional
potential in the paper-thin skins, which are chock full of protein,
carbohydrates, fats, fiber and minerals and vitamins. Peanut skins also contain
bioactive compounds, including antioxidants that help neutralize cell-damaging
molecules in the body called free radicals. Some, in fact, have antioxidant
activity levels equal to those of green tea, grape skins and other sources. On the livestock feed front, Toomer and collaborators are
exploring the benefits of adding peanut skins to the diets of poultry. However,
peanut skins contain tannins, which can reduce the digestion of protein from
feed. The researchers have begun evaluating low inclusion levels (four percent)
of peanut skins with a view to determining the optimal amount that can be
added. Aware of peanut sensitivities in some consumers, the researchers
also checked for the presence of allergenic peanut proteins in egg and meat
samples produced from birds fed peanut-containing diets. However, no traces of
peanut allergens were detected. Another interest: determining
whether birds fed peanut skins shed fewer Salmonella bacteria, which can pose a
human food safety concern with the consumption of poultry meat or eggs. On the functional food front, the researchers are comparing
concentrations of bioactive compounds in different colored peanut skins, which
range from red, tan and brown, to white, black and variegated. Toomer said profiling the nutritional chemistry and properties
of peanut skins is a key step towards figuring out how best to use them, with
potential benefits to producers and consumers. More broadly, Toomer's efforts
dovetail with the ARS lab's overarching mission to improve the productivity,
processing, end-user quality and nutritional value of not only peanut, but also
cucumber, sweetpotato, pepper and cabbage crops. The Agricultural Research Service is
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency.
Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America.
Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic
impact.
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