Mycotoxin-related threats to livestock production continue to pose a challenge to the feed and animal sectors in most regions of the world in 2017, according to the latest Biomin Mycotoxin Survey report. This conclusion emerged from more than 51197 analyses conducted on 13153 finished feed and raw commodity samples sourced from 69 countries from January to September 2017.
Main trends include:
- Elevated levels of mycotoxins detected in the first half of 2017 persist in many regions worldwide.
- While, corn (maize) and its by-products are commonly contaminated by mycotoxins, other feed ingredients such as soybeans appear to have a heightened risk of contamination.
- Co-contamination of samples by multiple mycotoxins is quite frequent. A full 75% of samples tested for multiple mycotoxins were shown to contain 2 or more mycotoxins.
“The uptick in mycotoxin contamination levels recorded in the first half of 2017 compared to 2016 has continued through September,” observed Dr Timothy Jenkins, Mycotoxin Risk Management Product Manager at BIOMIN.
In addition to detailing mycotoxin occurrence levels, the most recently published BIOMIN Mycotoxin Survey report contains total risk level calculations per region. The total risk level expresses the percentage of samples with at least one mycotoxin above its threshold level—the parts per billion figure at which a particular mycotoxin could impair the health or performance of farm animals.
“Total risk level indicates the possibility of encountering a mycotoxin-related issue when feeding animals ingredients sourced from a particular region,” explained Dr Jenkins. “The global nature of the commodity trade and local factors that contribute to mycotoxin contamination make it useful for each operation to test feed ingredients as part of a regular mycotoxin detection program.”
Read the Biomin Mycotoxin Survey Report
