23 August 2011

3 minute read

This data will enable the assessment of the risk level incurred by the use of commodities from certain regions. In the period between April and June 2011, a total of 804 samples were analysed and 2,867 analyses were carried out for the most important mycotoxins in terms of agriculture and animal production – aflatoxins (Afla), zearalenone (ZON), deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisins (FUM) and ochratoxin A (OTA). Samples were originated from different regions: America (North, Central and South), Asia (South-East, South and North), Oceania and Europe (Northern, Central and Southern) and Middle East and Africa.

Samples tested were diverse, ranging from cereals such as corn, wheat, barley and rice to processing by-products, namely soybean meal, corn gluten meal, dried distillers grains with soluble (DDGS) and fodder such as straw, silage and finished feed. This is the second of four reports to be released this year.

Figure 1. Prevalence of mycotoxins in different geographic regions

As can be observed in Figure 2, from the 804 survey samples analysed 31 per cent, 48 per cent, 62 per cent, 63 per cent and 32 per cent tested positive for contamination with Afla, ZON, DON, FUM and OTA, respectively.

Figure 2. Global occurrence of mycotoxins between April and June 2011 in the analysed samples

Figure 3. Global co-occurrence of mycotoxins

From Figure 3, it is obvious that mycotoxins are an ubiquitous problem as 89 per cent of the analysed samples show the presence of, at least, one mycotoxin. The presence of more than one mycotoxin in 53 per cent of the samples raises the attention to the problem of synergistic effects caused by multiple mycotoxins in animal feeds.

Tables 1 to 5 present an overview of the survey with details on analysed samples. The numbers of samples tested, percentage of positive samples, average of positive, 75th percentile and maximum levels found are shown. Twenty-five per cent of the tested samples fall at levels equal to or above those represented by the 75th percentile figure.