Success in the battle against mycotoxins is driven by developing informed and targeted plans that quickly identify and anticipate mycotoxin threat levels. Therefore, we advocate a targeted approach to mycotoxin mitigation – a strategy we have successfully implemented for over a decade.
Global Anti-Mycotoxin Agents Lead
Cargill’s Animal Nutrition Business
Mycotoxins, naturally occurring toxins from fungi, are one of the animal feed industry‘s biggest ongoing systemic threats. Found in raw feed ingredients, they can wreak havoc on animal health, performance and bottom lines. As a result, livestock farmers, feed formulators, and nutritionists need proactive risk management strategies to win the ongoing battle against mycotoxins.
UNDERSTANDING RISK
What’s tricky is that symptoms of trouble might not be visible. For example, laying hens may not show physical health changes that would indicate the presence of mycotoxins. Yet, mycotoxins could be impacting their ability to produce eggs. Similarly, pigs that appear to be healthy could have a lower feed intake due to mycotoxins, resulting in a lower weight gain and lower farmer revenue. Therefore, even a couple of percentage point decreases in your animal’s performance can directly impact your bottom line and output.
Another reason waiting to see physical symptoms can be dangerous because it is typically expensive to reverse their impacts entirely if they do appear. Symptoms indicate the animal has been exposed to high levels of mycotoxins for a long time. By then, the mycotoxins have taken hold and will significantly impact the animal’s health and performance.
IDENTIFYING RISK
Mycotoxin levels can vary by ingredient and region that can affect species differently. When calculating mycotoxin risk, there are three key considerations:
1. Contamination rate (% positive analyses with at least one mycotoxin),
2. Contamination level (analyzed mycotoxin concentration); and
3. Species sensitivity.
It is important to note that with increased sampling and analyses for mycotoxins, it is likely that you will find more, so tapping into existing trends can be useful. Cargill regularly compiles more than 300,000 mycotoxin analyses each year from more than 135,000 raw material samples taken across nearly 150 global feed plants, farms, and ingredient storage locations. Cargill hosts the most comprehensive mycotoxin contamination database in the world, and you can get the complimentary 2022 Cargill World Mycotoxin Report from here.
KEY GLOBAL TRENDS
With the above inputs in mind, we saw noteworthy data trends in 2022, including:
1. The “Big Four.” Like the previous year, our 2022 analyses data show Deoxynivalenol (DON; Vomitoxin) (81% contamination occurrence), Zearalenone (ZEN) (80%), Fumonisin (FUM) (74%), and Aflatoxin (AFL) (70%) as the top four mycotoxins worldwide. Ochratoxin (OTA) (60%) and T2 toxin (T2) (64%) show the lowest contamination rates, though both increased from 2021 to reach above 60% contamination occurrence in 2022.
2. An increased number of positive analyses were above detection limits*. In 2022, 75% of analyses were positive above detection limits* for the tested mycotoxin. From 2021, positive analyses increased by 3%. The largest prevalence increases include ZEN (+8%), T2 (+7%), and AFL (+6%).
3. Mycotoxin co-occurrence. This year, 92% of the 135,000 raw ingredient samples collected were contaminated with at least one mycotoxin. Of samples tested for three mycotoxins, 85% were positive above detection limits for two or three mycotoxins, and of samples tested for six mycotoxins, 84% were positive for four or more mycotoxins.
Based on 2022 data, it’s reasonable to assume that raw ingredients are contaminated more often than not: 75% of analyses run in 2022 were contaminated with mycotoxins. But more important is knowing if the contamination is above performance risk thresholds; just 39% of analyses run in 2022 reached these levels.
MINIMIZING RISK
Success in the battle against mycotoxins is driven by developing informed and targeted plans that quickly identify and anticipate mycotoxin threat levels. Therefore, we advocate a targeted approach to mycotoxin mitigation – a strategy we have successfully implemented for over a decade.
The result: Profitable operations that adjust quickly to shifting environmental conditions and changing mycotoxin distributions to better promote healthy and productive animals.
TESTING
When building a mycotoxin mitigation strategy, it is critical to understand the contamination level within your feed ingredients by combining sampling analysis capabilities with any existing on-farm sampling.
We recommend consistent testing to quantify and accurately monitor mycotoxins present in ingredients and the risk level – low, medium, or high – for all six key mycotoxins: Aflatoxin, Fumonisin, Ochratoxin, T2 toxin, Vomitoxin and Zearalenone.
PROPER FEED STORAGE
Feed storage practices include three control areas: temperature, moisture, and relative humidity. Each must be carefully managed to protect ingredients and minimize mold and pests. And time is of the essence: if the correct practices are followed and conditions deteriorate, the entire parcel may be recovered.
Under the following conditions, we recommend a short storage period to prevent increasing mycotoxin levels – all become more important when ingredients come from high-risk countries or regions:
• Monitoring program detects aflatoxin or ochratoxin during intake.
• Lack of ventilation capabilities and/or temperature controls in storage bins or cells.
• Poor temperature and moisture measurement capabilities to detect hot spots.
TARGETED APPLICATIONS
Once the risk has been identified and quantified, it is then easier to implement the right and targeted mitigation actions. In addition, integrating the mycotoxin performance risk thresholds into your formulation tool can help make sound decisions for optimized feed design.
These can adapt formulations with judicious raw material allocations to minimize mycotoxin levels in feed for the most sensitive species. It can also be the addition of targeted ingredients to mitigate identified mycotoxins and their negative impact on animal health & performance.
In the end, it is all about adopting the right mitigation plan at the right time to optimize your investment in mycotoxin control.
*Disclaimer: These thresholds may differ from safety thresholds, and also government regulatory levels, which vary from one country to another. Cargill Animal Nutrition mycotoxin risk thresholds have been established through in-depth scientific research on the mycotoxin impact on animals’ health and performance and are based on an estimated 0.5% loss of performance. These thresholds are likely to evolve as scientific knowledge on mycotoxicosis increases.
About Clement Soulet
Clement Soulet is part of the global additive team in Cargill’s animal nutrition business. Clement supervises the strategy execution and deployment of Anti Mycotoxin Agents (Notox) category. Originally from France, Clement has a Master of Science in Animal Production from AgroParisTech with a specialization in management, innovation and business performance.
