FDA Approves Measure to Lower Aflatoxin in Feed
US - In response to a request from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed temporarily to allow corn containing more than 20ppb of aflatoxin to be blended with corn found to have lower or negative aflatoxin levels in animal feed.
2 October 2012
2 minute read
By: In a letter, the FDA said: "Given the recent weather conditions this year, we do not object to providing temporary relief to allow the mixing or blending of corn with aflatoxin levels above 20 parts per billion (ppb) with corn found to have lower or negative aflatoxin levels."
Before being fed or sold for livestock feed, all blended corn must be tested to determine its aflatoxin level.
The blended corn must be clearly identified and labelled for animal feed use only and cannot contain corn with levels greater than 300ppb.
Iowa has also received similar approval recently.
Increased levels of aflatoxin do present a risk to animals when fed. Aflatoxins are produced by mould fungi and are known to be carcinogenic to animals and humans.
The blended corn must only be used in feed for mature poultry, breeding swine, and
finishing swine over 100 pounds, breeding cattle and finishing (feedlot) cattle.
