Buyer's guide

Aflatoxin limits by destination, and by what you are going to do with the nuts

There is no single aflatoxin number for almonds. The limit depends on where the container is landing and on whether the product will be sorted again before it reaches a consumer. Getting those two variables agreed in writing, before a lot is booked, is the difference between a clean clearance and a detained container.

Last verified: 20 September 2026 — limits change. Re-check the primary sources below before relying on any figure here.

The distinction that explains most of the confusion

Aflatoxins are produced by Aspergillus moulds and are regulated as contaminants rather than as an ingredient or an additive. Regulators generally set two different limits for the same nut:

a lower limit for product going to the final consumer, or being used directly as an ingredient, with no further sorting; and
a higher limit for product that will be "subjected to sorting or other physical treatment" before it reaches anyone — because colour sorting, hand sorting and screening physically remove the affected kernels, and the lot that emerges is cleaner than the lot that went in.

This is why a supplier can honestly say "our almonds meet the EU limit" and a buyer can honestly find that they do not. They were talking about two different limits for the same regulation. Which limit applies to your consignment is a function of what you are going to do with it, and it needs to be stated in the contract.

European Union

The EU limits sit in Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 on maximum levels for certain contaminants in food. They are the tightest in the world, and they are expressed twice: once for aflatoxin B1 alone, and once for the sum of B1, B2, G1 and G2.

Product	Intended use	Aflatoxin B1	Sum B1+B2+G1+G2
Almonds, pistachios and apricot kernels	To be sorted or physically treated before sale	12.0 µg/kg	15.0 µg/kg
Almonds, pistachios and apricot kernels	Placed on the market for the final consumer	8.0 µg/kg	10.0 µg/kg
Hazelnuts and Brazil nuts	To be sorted or physically treated	8.0 µg/kg	15.0 µg/kg
Hazelnuts and Brazil nuts	Final consumer	5.0 µg/kg	10.0 µg/kg
Other tree nuts — including walnuts and pecans	To be sorted or physically treated	5.0 µg/kg	10.0 µg/kg
Other tree nuts — including walnuts and pecans	Final consumer	2.0 µg/kg	4.0 µg/kg

Note what that table does to a walnut shipment. A walnut destined for a retail shelf in the EU faces a 2.0 µg/kg B1 limit — six times tighter than the same-destination limit for a ready-to-eat almond. A supplier quoting you "EU compliant" walnuts who has only ever shipped almonds may not have registered that.

The Pre-Export Check programme, and what it is not

For California almonds specifically there is a voluntary scheme worth understanding, because it changes what happens at the EU border rather than what the limit is.

Under the Almond Board of California's Pre-Export Check (PEC) programme, a California handler signs an annual Memorandum of Understanding with the Almond Board, follows defined sampling protocols, draws two 10 kg samples per lot, has them analysed at a USDA-approved laboratory, and receives a certificate carrying a USDA attestation. The EU formally recognised the programme in April 2015. Lots travelling with a PEC certificate are subject to less than 1 percent controls at the EU border under Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/949; consignments without one are sampled at the discretion of the importing member state. The USDA attestation on the certificate expires four months after issue; the laboratory certificate itself does not.

Three honest qualifications:

A PEC certificate is not an EU import requirement. The Almond Board says so directly. It reduces border-control frequency; it does not create market access.
Only a handler can hold PEC. It is a facility-level programme built on an MOU with the Almond Board and USDA oversight of a physical operation. An exporter or brand that owns no plant cannot hold it — it ships behind a participating handler. California Premium Nuts is in exactly that position, and says so.
It applies to direct shipments to the EU from California. Norway and Iceland have adopted it; Switzerland has not.

United States

The FDA does not set a binding maximum level for aflatoxin in most foods; it sets an action level. Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 555.400, most recently revised June 2021, states an action level of total aflatoxins greater than 20 µg/kg (ppb) for human food, with separate guides for Brazil nuts (CPG 570.200), peanuts and peanut products (CPG 570.375) and pistachio nuts (CPG 570.500).

The practical consequence for an export buyer is straightforward: the US domestic threshold is looser than the EU's, so "meets US requirements" tells you nothing about whether a lot will clear Rotterdam. Ask for the destination limit by name.

India

India's limits sit in the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011, administered by FSSAI. The consolidated regulation published by FSSAI lists aflatoxin for "all articles of food" at 30 µg/kg, and aflatoxin M1 in milk at 0.5 µg/kg.

Two cautions. First, FSSAI amends these regulations regularly and commodity-specific entries have been added over time — check the current consolidated text rather than quoting the 2011 base figure from memory, including this page's. Second, in India the aflatoxin limit is rarely the binding constraint on a nut consignment: labelling in FSSAI format, kernel-quality standards and shelf-life-at-dispatch rules are more often what slows a clearance. Treat aflatoxin as one line on a longer list.

Japan

Japan's regulatory limit is 10 ppb total aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2 combined).

What changed recently matters more than the number. US almonds had been under a 100 percent hold-and-test inspection order in Japan since 1996. As of 1 April 2025, Japan lifted mandatory arrival testing for US almonds that comply with a new protocol jointly administered by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service and the Almond Board of California. To qualify, almonds must be of US origin, processed by a handler approved by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, tested at a USDA-approved laboratory, and accompanied by a certificate of analysis with consistent details across every document in the shipping set.

That last clause is the one that catches people. Under this protocol a mismatch between the lot number on the certificate of analysis and the lot number on the packing list is not a clerical annoyance — it is a compliance failure.

Gulf Cooperation Council

GCC maximum limits for mycotoxins are set by the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO) — the relevant standard is GSO 1016, Maximum limits for mycotoxins permitted in food. GSO standards are sold rather than published free, which means this page cannot responsibly quote a figure it has not read in the standard itself.

The right move for a GCC shipment is therefore not to look up a number on a supplier's website. It is to ask your importer of record — who has to satisfy SFDA, ESMA, or the relevant national authority — which limit they will be tested against, in writing, and then have the lot tested to that. An exporter who quotes you a confident GCC aflatoxin figure without naming the standard and its edition is guessing.

China, Korea, and everywhere else

The same principle applies. Every major importing market sets its own limit, usually differentiating by nut and often by product form, and most revise them on their own schedule. There is no universal number and there is no chart that stays accurate. If a page tells you the limit for a market without telling you which regulation and which edition, treat the number as decoration.

The eight questions to ask a supplier before you book

"Which destination limit are you testing this lot to, and under which regulation?" Name the market, and expect the regulation cited back.
"Ready-to-eat limit or to-be-sorted limit?" If you are not sorting again, you need the lower one, and the contract should say so.
"B1 alone, or the sum of B1, B2, G1 and G2?" The EU specifies both. A certificate showing only total aflatoxin does not prove B1 compliance.
"Which laboratory, and is it accredited or USDA-approved?" For EU PEC lots and for the Japan almond protocol, a USDA-approved laboratory is part of the requirement.
"What is the sampling plan?" Aflatoxin contamination is notoriously uneven — a few kernels in a container can carry most of the toxin. The sampling plan matters as much as the analysis. PEC, for example, specifies two 10 kg samples.
"Is the certificate lot-specific, and does the lot number match the packing list and the bill of lading?" A generic "typical analysis" is not a certificate of analysis.
"Who is the certificate issued by and in whose name?" It is issued by the laboratory and relates to the facility that packed the lot — not to the trading company on the invoice.
"If the lot fails on arrival, what happens?" Agree the remedy in the sales contract, before the container is loaded, not after it is detained.

What an honest supplier will and will not tell you

Published specification figures are typical industry values. The numbers that govern your container come from that lot's certificate of analysis, produced before it sails. Any supplier publishing a specific aflatoxin result on a website is publishing a result for a lot you are not buying.

California Premium Nuts holds no facility certification of its own and runs no laboratory. Product is sourced, processed and packed at licensed California handler and co-packer facilities, and every analysis certificate is issued by the laboratory that tested the lot and travels with the lot it belongs to. Which destination limit applies to a given order is confirmed in writing before the lot is booked, and the lot is tested to it.

Sources

Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 of 25 April 2023 on maximum levels for certain contaminants in food, Annex I, Section 1 (aflatoxins). eur-lex.europa.eu
Almond Board of California, Aflatoxin / Pre-Export Check programme pages, and PEC Frequently Asked Questions — MOU requirement, 2 × 10 kg sampling, USDA-approved laboratory, USDA attestation and its four-month validity, EU recognition April 2015, sub-1 percent border controls under Regulation (EU) 2015/949, and the statement that a PEC certificate is not an EU import requirement. almonds.org · PEC FAQ (PDF)
US FDA, Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 555.400, Foods — Adulteration with Aflatoxin, revised June 2021. fda.gov
FSSAI, Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011, consolidated text. fssai.gov.in
Japan's 10 ppb total aflatoxin limit and the 1 April 2025 removal of mandatory arrival testing for protocol-compliant US almonds, jointly administered by USDA AMS and the Almond Board of California. FreshPlaza report
GCC Standardization Organization, GSO 1016, Maximum limits for mycotoxins permitted in food (purchase required). gso.org.sa

Tell us the destination. We will confirm the limit in writing.

Bulk California almonds, pistachios, walnuts and pecans, FOB Los Angeles / Long Beach or CIF your port, from one pallet. Which aflatoxin limit applies to your product form and market is confirmed before the lot is booked.

Send an RFQ