Occurrence of mycotoxins in raw ingredients used for animal feeding stuffs in the United Kingdom in 1992

Abstract

Examination of 330 samples of animal feed ingredients for the presence of a number of mycotoxins has been carried out. These samples were drawn from 186 animal feed mills in the United Kingdom. Aflatoxin B1 was the mycotoxin found most frequently, occurring in most samples of rice bran, maize products, palm kernels and cottonseed, but not in only 3 out of 20 samples of sunflower, in 1 out of 20 samples of soya and in no samples of peas, beans or manioc. Analytical difficulties were met with some combinations of commodity and mycotoxin and all results are uncorrected for recovery. The highest level was detected in a sample of maize gluten: 41 micrograms/kg of aflatoxin B1 (47 micrograms/kg total aflatoxins). Maize products also frequently contained fumonisins B1 and B2 at levels up to nearly 5,000 micrograms/kg in total and zearalenone up to a maximum level of 500 micrograms/kg. Ochratoxin A and citrinin were found in approximately 20% of wheat and barley samples. One sample of barley contained ochratoxin A at a level of 102 micrograms/kg and citrinin at a level of 8 micrograms/kg. Low levels of ochratoxin A also occurred in a few samples of other ingredients: rice bran, palm kernel and beans. Sterigmatocystin at 18 micrograms/kg was found in one sample of organically grown wheat and a trace amount of zearalenone in one sample of manioc. Multi-mycotoxin contamination also occurred, particularly in some samples of maize for which 19 out of 50 samples contained both aflatoxins and fumonisins.

Ochratoxin A contamination of cereal grains and coffee in Hungary in the year 2001

“…Disregarding the three highest values, the average value would change to 11.7 ng/g, which is much higher than the 2.5 ng/g average value measured by Trucksess et al (1999). In a survey of raw ingredients used for animal feedingstuffs, similar values were obtained by Scudamore et al (1997) who found OTA in 20% of the barley samples examined, with the highest value being 102 µg/kg.…”

“…This mycotoxin is produced mainly by the mould fungi Aspergillus ochraceus and Penicillium verrucosum that grow on cereal grains and other plant-derived products during storage at 15-19% moisture content and temperatures exceeding 15 °C (Abramson et al, 1992). OTA contamination occurs in barley (Scudamore et al, 1997), wheat (Vrabcheva et al, 2000), maize (Scudamore and Patel, 2000) and other cereals (Jorgensen et al, 1996) with a prevalence and intensity that vary by year and by country. In Hungary, 14-15% of the feeds analysed in the 1970s was found to contain OTA (Sándor et al, 1982).…”

Organic Food: Buying More Safety or Just Peace of Mind? A Critical Review of the Literature

“…On the other hand, contamination of animal feed ingredients with potentially harmful substances (e.g. mycotoxins) has been documented in both types of feedstuff (Scudamore et al, 1997), while neither organic nor conventional farm management can reduce the levels of persistent environmental pollutants, that may occasionally be found in feedstuffs and hence in endproducts of animal origin of both farming systems (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2000).…”

Scientific Opinion on the risk for public and animal health related to the presence of sterigmatocystin in food and feed

“…Scudamore and Hetmanski (1995) found STC in 8 (17 %) out of 46 samples of poorly stored cereals (wheat, barley and oats). In another study, Scudamore et al (1997) ). In three maize samples, co-occurrence of STC (between 7 and 574 µg/kg) with AFB 1 (between 24 and 503 µg/kg) and aflatoxin B 2 (AFB 2 ) (between 4.3 and 43 µg/kg) was observed (De Saeger, personal communication, 2012).…”

“…Scudamore et al (1997) analysed 221 samples of feed ingredients (rice bran, maize gluten and products, cottonseed meal, rapeseed, sunflower meal, olive pulp, palm products, soya, peas/beans and manioc) using HPLC, but STC was not detected. Scudamore et al (1998b) tested 40 rice bran samples used in animal feed for the presence of 20 mycotoxins in the UK using HPLC (LOQ = 50 µg/kg).…”