Iowa and Nebraska Corn Being Monitored for Alfatoxins

State Officials on the Lookout for Alfatoxins in Corn

By Graham Dyer, Farms.com

When the summer weather is hot and dry, the ideal environment is created for a certain type of mold fungi to start thriving. Experts in the states of Iowa and Nebraska are on the lookout for mold fungi that generates alfatoxins – chemicals which at high levels are poisonous to humans and animals.

The potential for corn being contaminated with alfatoxins increases when the weather’s hot and there’s a persistent lack of moisture. Mark Fulmer of the Lincoln Inspection Service told the Lincoln Journal Star that during the drought year of 2002, there was a high amount of aflatoxin in the state's corn.

Fulmer says out of the corn samples his company has tested this summer, most show little or no contamination. But he also says some of the corn has tested more than four times the federal threshold.

If you think your corn maybe susceptible to alfatoxins, you can have samples tested at an Ag lab to determine if you are above or below the government’s threshold for alfatoxins in corn.