Examining the impact of mycotoxins on poultry feed
Considering solutions to mycotoxin contamination
By Larry ClarkePoultry feed contamination is a problem, and mycotoxins are one of the biggest culprits. What are mycotoxins? They are toxins produced by fungi (mold) in feed and foodstuffs and can pose health hazards to both humans and livestock.
It's estimated that mycotoxins affect 25% of the world's crops and costs the US agriculture industry approximately $1 billion each year. According to Cargill’s 2022 Mycotoxin report, 75% of more than 300,000 mycotoxin analyses from over 150 different feed plants on livestock and feed around the globe contained a detectable amount. The large and comprehensive report found 39% were above its risk threshold.
Comprehensive studies like Cargill's are, unfortunately, outliers in the industry when it comes to testing for contaminants. The sampling methodology in the grain and animal feed industries is, at best, flawed—operating like a “sampling roulette.” The odds of finding contamination are inconsistent and based on the actual sample, not the supply chain itself. It’s difficult to determine how much contaminant moves through the supply chain to the animal feed and ultimately to the animal. A lot of money is spent on IDing and analytics rather than just the sampling aspect of it. Sample sizes aren’t doing enough.
Alternatively, continuous flow sampling as the product goes by on the belt provides a much more accurate representation. Technology that increases the ability to see contamination is a need if poultry and other animal feeds are to become more sustainable. The analytics are getting better and more affordable, but for analytics to be truly effective, they must have sound, well-rounded data from accurate sampling methodology.
It's important that we mitigate products, like corn, with a decontamination process or put an additive into the feed (the binder) sold in Europe. If the process is effective and affordable enough, this could be used on the front end to treat everything. A “treat everything” approach is more proactive to prevent mycotoxins from reaching the animal—and ultimately, the consumer products we eat directly that have toxins that harm us (peanuts and milk, for example) while the animal meat does not carry it—and removes the worry surrounding small samples.
Cargill’s study shows 7-12% of livestock feed contains mycotoxins. That’s a sizeable amount of mycotoxins present and affecting the health of livestock. Mycotoxins can be introduced throughout the supply chain and require broad-scale mitigation. Without mitigation, the financial losses are significant, so resolving the problem is sustainable and possible in regard to the costs and resources of that loss.
To address this, the poultry industry has used prophylactic antibiotics to safeguard animals, but many consumers have pushed back against the use of antibiotics. Removing those antibiotics means the animals aren't protected from bugs and tend to be less healthy. A recent study found a 15% reduction in weight gain in poultry that were fed a diet that included mycotoxins. Those poultry also experienced a 9% reduction in overall feed intake and 6% in feed efficiency as well. Studies such as these show that poultry, among other animals, are acutely affected by contaminated foodstuffs, weighing less and requiring more food to survive than animals not fed a contaminated diet.
Antibiotics, using sterilization technologies, and optical sorting are especially important to prevent livestock from becoming sick. These technologies can identify potentially dangerous kernels as corn moves across a conveyor belt and remove mycotoxins before they enter the rest of the supply chain. Of course, this requires more money to mitigate mycotoxins on the front, middle, and back of the supply chain. Additionally, analytics and technologies would need to be integrated in a way that increases fluid sampling throughout.
There should also be an offset like the antibiotics and binders noted above for mycotoxins specifically. High-voltage cold plasma processing kills the microbes and decontaminates the mycotoxin, while optical sorters can remove them automatically from the belt, so you reduce the problem in the most effective manner. The benefit is that the animals will be healthier by consuming feed without contaminants and the use of raw resources to produce feed is more efficient. Building a more sustainable industry while increasing profits
The current methodology requires removal before it goes into the feed stream, but rarely does the grain get thrown away or go to the dump. It’s important to be mindful of cross-contamination and ensure contaminated grain is identified and removed or mitigated as soon as possible.
With proper decontamination tech in place, less feed is needed to produce the same amount of meat, which means less water, fuel, fertilizer and such wasted. Less waste is more sustainable and can lead to increased profits as well. Increasing profits through optimized processes is a serious topic for an industry that is also being hit by a new wave of lab meats as potential competitors.
In order to compete, the traditional poultry industry needs to be more efficient and show consumers that it’s improving its sustainability footprint. Both can be accomplished by monitoring and removing mycotoxins throughout the supply chain.
Larry Clarke is the CEO of NanoGuard Technologies, a company that prevents food and feed waste and improves food safety by eradicating harmful pathogens and mycotoxins through its Airilization technology.
