Last month, the 12th World Mycotoxin Forum took place in Bangkok in Thailand. During the conference, researchers shared their knowledge and experience of the mycotoxin situation in Asia.

Despite efforts to prevent contamination with mycotoxins, Asian animal feed has been widely affected by mycotoxins in recent years (according to a a large-scale survey carried out by the Biomin Research Centre).

“As many as 92% of the samples were contaminated with at least one mycotoxin and 88% were co-contaminated,” says Dr Gerd Schatzmayr of the research center. The survey consisted of 24,455 samples from17 Asian countries from 2008-2019. The prevalence and co-contamination of mycotoxins varied between regions. In East Asia the mycotoxins DON, ZEN and FUM appear to be more prevalent, whereas in South Asia and Southeast Asia AFB1 plays an important role. Schatzmayr: “In South Asia and Southeast Asia 76.8% and 51% of the samples were positive for AFB1. Of greater concern is the fact that 40% of the South Asia samples and 20.6% of the Southeast Asia samples exceeded the EU maximum level for AFB1 in feed. AFB1 is a major risk for animal health in these regions.”

culled from Poultry World.