What are the legal limits for mycotoxins in feed in Brazil and which are the max tolerable levels to do research using contaminated feed with farm animals? Are these the same as in the EU?
Thank you
Fernando

Hi Fernando!
My apologies for not responding sooner. There are 3 accounts in Engormix which I sometimes forget to look at.
Well, about your question. We do not have specific legislation for feed. Our Ministry of Agriculture recommends 50 ppb for Aflatoxins (https://www.pegasusscience.com/site/us/mycotoxins/legislation). For animals, after the many years of in vivo experiments and analyzing the contaminations of clinical samples we have established general guidelines for absolute safety (https://www.pegasusscience.com/site/us/mycotoxins/maximum-recommended-limits). I inform you that it is not legislation, it is more than that, it is animal food safety!
Best regards

Does Aflatoxins arise when feed is not properly dry?

Dear Mr Clement
As in the answer above, sorry for not responding.
The only thing that ensures mycotoxins do not form is to keep feed at a water activity (Aw) below 0.7. Any food/feed will be safe that way.
Best regards

Dear Carlos,

Can you provide more insights on how NIR technology helps in screening Mycotoxins in feeds ex. Poultry?

Sear Suresh Kumar BV
Unfortunately not. The system only works for raw materials. The curves for the main mycotoxins (Aflatoxins, Zearalenone, Fumonisins and Deoxynivalenol) are operational on corn, wheat, wheat bran and barley. Importantly, the system is designed to calculate the Mycotoxin Risk with interpretations for poultry and pigs.

Carlos A. Mallmann, Thank you for your response. From you response may i assume that you have a process in place to predict/check Micotoxin Risk in raw materials using NIR (which are used for poultry feeds), is my understanding to correct ? If yes, can you provide some reading material for the same?

NIR methodology can be used for mycotoxin also. The following references can be referred:
Fei Shen, Qifang Wu, Xiaolong Shao, Qiang Zhang (2018) Non-destructive and rapid evaluation of aflatoxins in brown rice by using near-infrared and mid-infrared spectroscopic techniques.J Food Sci Technol (March 2018) 55(3):1175–1184.
Smita Tripathi , H.N. Mishra (2009) A rapid FT-NIR method for estimation of aflatoxin B1 in red chili powder:Food Control 20 (2009) 840–846

Thank you Dr.Ram for your references. Will it be possible for you to share some research work on Poultry raw material feeds , such as Corn ? , Have a great day

Dear Suresh Kumar BV, some samples from Bihar (India) were analysed for the presence of aflatoxins (Individual and total). The abstract of the paper published:Singh, R. and Shrivastav, A.K. 2011. Occurrence of aflatoxins in maize feed in Bihar. Indian Journal of Poultry Science, 46(3):341-345, is given below:
One hundred twenty maize samples were collected from Samastipur District of Bihar around 15th day of each month from January to December, 2009 and analysed for the presence of various aflatoxin fractions viz. B1, B2, G1 and G2, and total aflatoxin. The average content of aflatoxin B1 and B2 positive maize samples and the overall average contents of aflatoxin B1 and B2 were relatively higher in the months of July, August, September and October as compared to other months. Eighty eight per cent of the maize samples were found to be
positive for aflatoxin B1 and the values ranged from 0.00 to 0.40 ppm with an overall average of 0.13 ppm whereas, in the case of aflatoxin B2, 61 per cent of the samples were found to be positive for aflatoxin B2 and the values ranged from 0.00 to 0.30 ppm with an overall average
of 0.08 ppm. Forty per cent of the maize samples were found to be positive for aflatoxin G1 and the values ranged from 0.00 to 0.28 ppm with an overall average of 0.04 ppm whereas, 38 per cent of the samples were found to be positive for aflatoxin G2 and the values ranged
from 0.00 to 0.26 ppm with an overall average of 0.04 ppm. The average content of total aflatoxin positive samples were the highest in the month of July (0.45 ppm) and lowest in the month of December (0.23 ppm). Ninety one per cent of the maize samples were found to be
positive for total aflatoxin and the values ranged from 0.00 to 1.00 ppm with an overall average of 0.29 ppm. It may be concluded that the average contents of aflatoxin positive samples were higher in the months of July, August, September and October as compared to other months. The overall average contents of B fractions and total aflatoxin contents were also higher in these months, whereas, the overall average contents of G fractions remained almost similar throughout the year. The percentage of G fractions contamination was relatively
higher during winter months.

Dear Dr.Ram , Thank you very much for the content. I will try and fetch the journal you suggested. Appreciated. Have a great day

Is there any cheap farmer friendly, hand held tool or equipment for on site mycotoxin analysis?
Please advise.

Dear Stephen Fapohunda
Yes. The system is absolutely simple. You just need familiarity with reading in NIRS. Upload to the site. Wait a few minutes. Results interpreted on Mycotoxin Risk charts.
Best regards

The best way is to achieve an efficient, effective and cheaper way of mycotoxin diagnosis like litmus paper testing of alkalinity and acidity. Is there a method that works like this? Thanks

Jonathan Tarus
It's another system. Enter in https://www.pegasusscience.com/site/us/ than you can see more details of the process. It's very simple!

Any simple method to know the mycotoxins in finished feed

Aoun Khan
Yes, I meant a simple method to be used in the diagnosis of mycotoxins in feeds (finished & unfinished) and poultry products.

What is Water activity means, sir?

Aoun Khan
Water activity represents free water for growth of microorganisms. It goes from 0 to 1 (pure water). From 0.7 already has some microorganisms that can grow, so keeping below that eliminates the risk. This goes for any food/feed.

I think it is not the Mycotoxins that replicate themselves, or form themselves,but the various fungi or Mycelium which produce them
it is the fungi that requires conducive environment to produce myco toxins and various fungi produce peculiar, or multiple myco toxins that ranges from Aflatoxin to Fuminoxin DON and Zearalinone etc
The conducive factors for these fungi must include appropriate substrate like corn ,soya,Groundnut,wheat etc on which they require to grow,Water content in the substrate above the standard, or if the storage environment is damp, and if temperature is increasing ,all these form ideal environment for fungi to grow and produce toxins
it is interesting to note that the higher the heat in the environment where these fungi substrate are kept, the higher the mycotoxin quantity that will be produced ,and this
is why more quantity of toxins are been produced as a result of climate change
climate change is characterized with all features that promote the secretion of toxins by feed or raw material contaminated fungi, as climate change produce flood drought, heat which are all conducive for the secretion and spread of toxins
quick check qualitative test for mycotoxin at farm gate is absolutely necessary and needed at farm gate level for fast decision by farmers,however quantitative test that can determine levels of toxin in raw materials and feed is a necessary tool for decision making on if toxin bindrs will be required to mitigate excess mycotoxins in livestock feed
Livestock industry foundation for Africa had since recognised a significant knowledge skill gap not only among farmers but also among many livestock professionals on mycotoxin production identification and appropriate mitigation in the humid tropical climate,LIFA has concluded in many of her farmers training onmycotoxin which is one of her initiative for advocacy that mycotoxinis the most health critical challanges of livestock that must be thoroughly understood and fully managed
Mycotoxin affect all prooduction and profitability indexes in poultry management ,in feeding,immunology,Vaccination successes,weight attainment,feed conversion and the cost of medication in a oultry project ,and we have come up with our slogan of "FAIL IN MYCOTOXIN MANAGEMENT AND FAIL IN ALL" It is in view of the above that livestock industry foundation for Africa is vigorously driving her knowledge sharing advocacy on creating more awareness in Nigeria now and in Africa countris soon on the wholistic management of mycotoxin risks in poultry production.We are currently partnered by ALPHA INITIATIVES (A subsidiary of Bill and

Melinda foundation) in Nigeria to create more awareness on the implications of mycotoxin on Vaccination failures,and multiple antibiotic infections in poultry projects in Nigeria
To follow up on most of our recent activities on mycotoxin training in West Africa follow the link below
https;//blog.lifango.org
interested collaborators to contact soavet@yahoo.com attention Dr Stephen Adejoro

Stephen Adejoro Dr
Your approach is pertinent. We are more than 30 years involved in this at our university. In this period more than 1.5 million analyzes were carried out officially, either to control imports or companies involved with food/feed production. Our experience has led us to create mitigation systems for animal production such as Mycotoxin Risk calculation based on factors for each species/toxin and others. Evidently, experimental animal models were used.
This has enabled the creation of protocols for the evaluation of Antimicotoxin Additives, which is the only economical way to get rid of the problem when the toxin is already formed. Most of these products definitely do not work. For this reason, this assessment had to be created to protect populations and animals.

Thank you for your contribution to knowledge livestock industry foundation for Africa (www.lifango.org) is interested in promoting new discoveries on mycotoxins mitigations in the South Sahara Africa
Follow many of our knowledge sharing activities in the link below
https://blog.lifango.org

Carlos
What type of mycotoxin adsorbent is more effective?

Mr. Guo.
This depends on several factors. First, the toxin that contaminates the material. Depending on what we find, the adsorbent is used. The clearest example is that of Aluminosilicates for Aflatoxins. There are many that work very well.
Thus, saying which is the best is not possible. A product that "works" for all mycotoxins may look better, but the active ingredients are diluted when a toxin is present in high concentrations, losing its efficiency.
It has many examples. A product that is effective for Zearalenone has no strong indication for male pigs or poultry and so on.
But important, after evaluating more than 1,000 products, it is that the product proves its efficiency in vivo. In vitro evaluations do not have much correlation with the protective effect in animals. I’ve taught this for the past 20 years.

Dr. Mallmann, good to see your video with my Indian friends. Also read about your discovery on the use of NIR for mycotoxin analysis in some of the grains and grain by-products. How much it is reliable? The correlations you might have developed work under all the conditions? Please share if there is any peer-reviewed publication on this. Thanks

Near Infrared Spectroscopy(NIR) Technology is most simple and one that anyone can try. But still it's not simple as you need many things connected to get desired results. One should work on making simple farmer friendly devices using NIR Technology.