Vomitoxin, also known as deoxynivalenol (DON), is a mycotoxin usually found in grain crops like wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn infected with the fungus called Fusarium graminearum, although it can occasionally pop up in rice or sorghum.
The toxin was first isolated from corn, after an unusually damp winter in the Midwest, by scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1973. The toxin was given the name, “vomitoxin” because pigs were refusing to eat the infected corn or vomited after consuming it, reports Reuters.
The spread of the mycotoxin is concentrated in Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, and parts of Iowa and Michigan, although the impact is not fully known, according to state officials and data gathered by food testing firm Neogen Corp. In Indiana, in 2014 and 2015, no more than four out of 92 counties had grain infected by the fungus. In 2016, 40 counties had at least one load each of corn with the fungus present.
“We’re polling our customers and continually talking to them about the levels they’re seeing. Those levels are not going down,” said Pat Frasco, director of sales for Neogen’s milling, grain and pet food business.
Since last fall’s harvest, a “considerable” share of corn crops in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana tested positive for the mycotoxin, with levels in some cases being high enough to be considered toxic to humans and animals. Neogen did not say what percentage of each state’s corn crop was infected.
Impacts related to the mycotoxin are numerous
The presence of the mycotoxin in the U.S. corn harvest creates a number of serious problems. Research has shown that vomitoxin is highly toxic to both animals and humans. The toxicity is serious enough that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USDA) has established a level of 1 ppm (parts per million) for human foods.
Restrictions on food for companion animals, like dogs and cats Dogs are limited to 5 ppm and of grains and grain byproducts, while food for livestock and farm animals have restrictions set at 10 ppm in grain products they can consume. Dairy cow feed limits are set at 2 ppm.
It has been rumored that Smithfield Foods Inc, the world’s largest pork producer, is getting a shipload of corn from Paraguay next month. A company source told Reuters that corn that had been brought in from Ohio and Indiana to feed pigs in North Carolina was of “horrible quality” due to the mycotoxins.
Kentucky-based feed supplement company, Alltech Inc said that almost three-quarters of feed samples they have tested this year have vomitoxin present. “We know there is lots of bad corn out there because corn byproducts keep getting worse,” said Max Hawkins, a nutritionist with Alltech.
Other problems looming
Besides the obvious impacts to grain producers, including the higher costs associated with testing their harvested grains, the biofuel industry has also been impacted. Turning corn into fuel leaves a by-product called distillers dried grains (DDG) that is then sold as animal feed. Using corn infected with vomitoxin triples the concentration during the refining process, leaving DDG’s that are unsellable.
The heavy rains and the huge harvest in 2016 forced many farmers and grain elevators to store corn on the ground or in other improvised places. Some farmers even piled the corn and used plastic to protect it. The sheer size of the harvest, the largest in U.S. history has made it difficult to manage the toxins.
Many farmer’s groups in the Midwest are also worried about President Trump’s proposed 21 percent cut in funding to the Department of Agriculture. Many are especially critical of the thought of cutting research funding, With this latest outbreak of vomitoxin in the Midwest, research is needed even more to overcome the fungus, reports Montana’s Sidney Herald.
