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CION Cancer Clinics
How to store grain, nuts and spices to avoid aflatoxin | CION Cancer Clinics
Keep groundnuts, grain, chillies and spices dry, cool and sealed, buy what you will finish soon, and throw away anything that looks, smells or tastes wrong. The moulds that make aflatoxin need warmth and damp, so dry storage does most of the work. This page walks through the habits that help, food by food, and explains what these steps can and cannot do for liver cancer risk. At CION Cancer Clinics, our specialists help you understand your own risk and plan regular liver checks that fit it.
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Medically reviewed by Dr. Naresh GunduConsultant Medical Oncologist · MBBS, DNB (Internal Medicine), DM (Medical Oncology, AIIMS) · last reviewed October 2026, next review due October 2027
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On this page
- How do you stop aflatoxin forming in food at home?
- What should you do from buying to cooking?
- Which foods need the most care, and how?
- Which habits help, and which make mould more likely?
- What do people believe about storing food, and what is true?
- What this page cannot tell you
- Common questions about storing food safely
The short answer
How do you stop aflatoxin forming in food at home?
Keep grain, nuts and spices dry, cool and sealed, buy in amounts you will finish quickly, and throw away anything that looks, smells or tastes wrong. The moulds that make aflatoxin need warmth and damp to grow, so taking away the damp does most of the work.
Why this is worth doing
Aflatoxin is a poison made by moulds on groundnuts, maize, chillies and other stored crops. Eaten again and again over many years, it raises the risk of primary liver cancer, the kind that starts in the liver itself. The risk is much higher in people who also carry hepatitis B. The page on aflatoxin and liver cancer explains how the damage happens.
What kitchen habits can and cannot do
Good storage lowers how much aflatoxin your family eats from today onwards. It is one of the few liver cancer risks a household can change without a doctor. It does not undo past exposure, and it does not replace hepatitis B vaccination, testing or liver scans for people who need them. Think of it as one sensible habit among several, not a shield.
Monsoon months in Telangana and Andhra are when stored food is most at risk. That is the season to check your jars and bins most often.Step by step
What should you do from buying to cooking?
Buy from a source that turns stock over
A busy shop or a branded packet has usually been stored for less time. Loose groundnuts and spices from a damp, dark corner of a market are more likely to have sat in humid air for a long while.
Look before you pay
Groundnuts should be plump and evenly coloured. Avoid shrivelled, broken, dark or dusty nuts, and chillies with black or powdery patches. Spice powder should smell fresh and flow freely, not form lumps.
Dry it properly if it comes from your own field
Dry harvested groundnuts, maize and chillies quickly in the sun on a clean tarpaulin or mat, not on bare soil. Turn them often. Store them only when they are fully dry and snap or rattle rather than bend.
Store sealed, off the floor and away from the stove
Use clean, dry, airtight steel or glass containers. Keep sacks raised on a platform, away from walls that sweat in the rains. Avoid the shelf above the stove or kettle, where steam rises every day.
Use a clean dry spoon every time
A wet spoon in the chilli powder or pickle jar brings in the moisture that moulds need. Close the lid straight away, and do not top up an old jar with fresh powder.
Sort before cooking, and throw away the doubtful
Pick out any discoloured or shrivelled groundnuts before roasting or grinding. If one tastes bitter, spit it out and discard that batch. Cooking does not make mouldy food safe.
Not sure whether this applies to you?
Ask an oncologistFood by food
Which foods need the most care, and how?
Some foods pick up aflatoxin far more easily than others. These are the ones to be strict about.
Groundnuts and peanut chutney
The food most often linked to aflatoxin. Buy in small amounts, store shelled nuts in a sealed jar, and keep the shell on where you can, since shelling exposes the nut to air and damp.
Throw away if
- The nut is shrivelled, dark or dusty
- It tastes bitter or stale
- The jar has any sign of mould
Maize, rice and millets
Keep them in sealed bins on a raised surface. Sieve and look over grain before washing. Grain that smells musty or has turned green, grey or clumpy should go to waste, not to the cattle.
Chillies, turmeric and masala
Buy whole spices where you can and grind small batches at home. Store powder airtight, away from the stove. Discard any powder that smells damp or has formed hard lumps.
Oil, copra and animal feed
Refined oil from a regulated brand is processed to remove most aflatoxin. Buy loose pressed oil only from a mill you trust. Keep copra dry, and never feed mouldy grain or oilcake to milk animals, because a related poison passes into their milk.
Side by side
Which habits help, and which make mould more likely?
Helps keep food safe
Makes mould more likely
Airtight steel or glass jars
Open plastic bags and cloth sacks on the floor
A cool, dry cupboard away from the stove
The shelf above the stove, kettle or sink
Buying what you will finish soon
Buying in bulk before the monsoon and storing it damp
A clean dry spoon, lid closed at once
A wet spoon and a lid left open
Throwing away a doubtful batch
Washing, roasting or picking out the worst and using the rest
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Commonly believed
What do people believe about storing food, and what is true?
"Sun-drying the groundnuts again will kill the mould."
Sunlight dries the nut and can stop new mould growing, which is why drying straight after harvest helps. It does not remove aflatoxin that has already formed. Once nuts have gone mouldy, the poison stays.
"The fridge keeps everything safe for ever."
Cold slows mould, and a sealed jar of groundnuts or powder in the fridge is a good idea in humid weather. But an open container can still gather damp. Food that went in mouldy comes out mouldy.
"Throwing food away is a waste. We were raised to finish everything."
That instinct is a good one most of the time. A small bowl of mouldy nuts or a damp jar of masala costs little to replace, while the poison builds up in the liver over years. This is the one place where throwing away is the careful choice.
"Mould only matters if you can see it."
Aflatoxin can be present in food that looks normal, especially once it is ground into powder. Visible mould is a clear signal to discard, but dry storage and a trusted source protect you even when you cannot see anything.
Being straight with you
What this page cannot tell you
It cannot tell you whether food in your kitchen contains aflatoxin. There is no simple home test, and the laboratory tests used by food inspectors are not something a family can arrange for a jar of chilli powder. The steps above lower the chance. They cannot give you a result.
It cannot measure your own liver risk
Storage habits matter less than hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcohol, fatty liver and diabetes, which cause most liver cancer in India. If you have never had a hepatitis B blood test, that single test will tell you more about your risk than anything in your kitchen. The page on preventing liver cancer brings all the changeable risks together.
Who this does not apply to
If someone in the family already has liver cancer or cirrhosis, changing storage will not change their treatment. Their care is planned around the tumour and how well the liver works, and the team will not ask what was in the kitchen. If you carry hepatitis B or have cirrhosis, keep up with liver cancer screening as advised, alongside these habits.
Unsure whether anyone in your family needs liver checks? Call the helpline and a CION team member will help you work it out.Questions we are asked
Common questions about storing food safely
How long can groundnuts be stored safely?
There is no single safe period, because it depends on how dry the nuts were and how damp your home gets. In general, buy what you will use within a few weeks, keep them sealed and cool, and check them each time you open the jar. Shelled nuts spoil faster than nuts kept in the shell.
Is it safe to store groundnuts and spices in the fridge?
Yes, and it helps in the rainy season. Use a sealed container so the food does not pick up moisture or smells. Let a cold jar reach room temperature before opening it on a humid day, so water does not form on the food inside.
Are branded packets safer than loose food?
Branded food is usually tested and stored better before it reaches you, which lowers the risk. Once a packet is opened at home, the same rules apply as for loose food. Transfer it to a dry, airtight jar and use it up rather than leaving the packet clipped on a shelf.
Can I save mouldy groundnuts by roasting them?
No. Roasting reduces aflatoxin only a little, and the poison is stable at ordinary cooking heat. Mouldy, shrivelled or bitter nuts should be thrown away whole. Picking out the worst and roasting the rest leaves the poison in the nuts that looked fine.
Should I give mouldy grain to the cattle instead?
Please do not. A related form of the poison passes from the animal's feed into its milk, which then reaches your family, and it harms the animal too. Mouldy grain, nuts and oilcake are safest buried or burned, not fed to livestock or poultry.
Does turmeric protect against aflatoxin?
There is no good evidence that adding turmeric or any other spice to food protects the liver from aflatoxin. Turmeric itself can carry mould if it is stored damp. The protection comes from dry storage and discarding doubtful food, not from adding something else.
We farm groundnuts. What matters most for us?
Quick, thorough drying after harvest, on a clean mat rather than bare soil, and storage in dry bags off the floor. Families who eat their own crop eat more from a single batch, so care at this stage matters more. The page on farming and liver risk covers other work exposures.
Someone in my family has hepatitis B. What else should we do?
Make sure everyone in the household has been tested and, if not protected, vaccinated. The person with hepatitis B should stay under regular follow-up with a hepatologist or physician. If you are not sure where to begin, call the CION helpline and someone will guide you.
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Sources
- World Health Organization — Mycotoxins
- National Cancer Institute — Aflatoxins - Cancer-Causing Substances
- American Cancer Society — Can Liver Cancer Be Prevented?
- Cancer Research UK — Risks and causes of liver cancer
This page is general information, not a prescription. Do not change or stop any treatment based on what you read here. If anything is worrying you, contact your own treating team — or call our helpline and we will help you reach the right specialist.
Keep reading
Related pages
Aflatoxin: mould on groundnuts, maize and chilliesHow the poison harms the liver, and who is most at riskCan liver cancer be prevented?Every changeable liver cancer risk in one placeHepatitis B vaccination is cancer preventionThe single step that protects the liver mostPesticides, farming and liver cancer riskOther exposures for farming families
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