INSECT PROBLEMS OF PECAN SHELLING PLANTS AND THEIR RELATION TO INSECTS AND INSECT PARTS IN PROCESSED PECANS

摘要

SUMMARY–Factory studies were conducted to determine the incidence of various types of insect contaminants in inshell and shelled pecans and their significance as related to processing methods. Pecans may become infested in the field with primary and/or secondary insect pests and in the shelling plant by storage insects. Analytical results showed raw stock sorting by air separation to be ineffective for removing insect‐infested inshell nuts. Insects and their fragments are present in cracked infested nuts and are largely removed by subsequent air separation procedures. During processing, Curculio caryaelarvae are concentrated in the midget and small pecan pieces. Hand sorting under UV light was shown to be superior to other procedures for removal of curculio larvae from the finished product. Finished shelled pecan products contained relatively few insect fragme