Importance of mycotoxin management stressed

Mycotoxin management is now being taken more seriously as it has become more and more apparent that negative effects on animal performance are partly caused by mycotoxin contamination of feed, a feed expert said.

Dr. Kai-Jens Kuehlmann, technical manager of Trouw Nutrition, recently told eFeedLink in an interview that there is a great need for knowledge on the state of contamination around the world.

He said feed raw materials face the risk of contamination, citing as example the shift of fishmeal to renewable plant protein meals to cover the increasing demand for feeds of intensively farmed fish species. The shift was spurred by fewer fish being caught in the open waters for fishmeal production.

Plant-based proteins from corn, soybean meal, canola, rice bran, cassava, cottonseed and wheat may be cost-efficient alternatives but they have high risk of mycotoxin contamination, Kuehlmann pointed out. Thus, he said, a mycotoxin risk assessment with appropriate protection strategies to farmed aquaculture species needs to be in place.

How to adequately and promptly protect feed quality without increasing costs is a main concern, too, he said. "If there is a big delay in treatment because of time-consuming analyses, the stock could be spoiled", Kuehlmann said. One alternative would be to always use a mycotoxin management product, but then, it would increase costs again, he added.

Trouw Nutrition, Kuehlmann said, addresses this with a total package: the TOXO feed additive product range and the Mycomaster rapid mycotoxin analysis tool.

Global aqua feed production currently stands at about 40 million metric tonnes and is expected to rise, along with other animal feeds, as the global population is estimated to reach 9 billion by 2050, which needs to be provided with sufficient food, he pointed out.-Rick Alberto