Balancing Nutritional Value and Food Safety in Peanut Butter: The Role of Food Matrix Characteristics in Hazard Behavior and Risk Management

Peanut butter combines nutritional density with two hazard profiles that are often discussed separately: persistence of enteric pathogens in a low-moisture, lipid-rich matrix and pre-processing contamination with aflatoxins. This structured narrative review synthesizes evidence identified in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar between January and June 2026 and asks whether food-matrix characteristics change not only nutrient release but also the reliability and timing of safety controls. The evidence is strongest for prolonged survival and matrix-enhanced heat resistance of Salmonella, the heterogeneous distribution of aflatoxins among kernels, and the limited corrective value of roasting for contaminated lots. Direct studies that measure nutritional and safety outcomes within the same peanut butter formulation are scarce; the proposed framework is therefore an integrative interpretation rather than a quantitatively validated model. In our assessment, the practical value of the matrix concept lies in three decisions: controlling aflatoxins before grinding, validating microbial lethality in the actual product, and protecting post-lethality areas from recontamination. These conclusions support hazard-specific risk management that preserves nutritional and sensory quality without treating shelf stability as evidence of microbiological safety.