PHOTO’S: MISSET
FOTO: © NGUYEN HUY KHAM / REUTERS
CONFERENCE ▶▶▶
WMF: The mycotoxin situation in Asia
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.
BY MARIEKE PLOEGMAKERS D
In between the presentations there was time for networking.
espite efforts to prevent contamination with my- cotoxins, Asian animal feed has been widely af- fected 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 con- taminated with at least one mycotoxin and 88% were co-con- taminated,” says Dr Gerd Schatzmayr of the research centre. The survey consisted of 24,455 samples from17 Asian coun- tries from 2008-2019. The prevalence and co-contamination of mycotoxins varied between regions. In East Asia the myco- toxins DON, ZEN and FUM appear to be more prevalent, whereas in South Asia and Southeast Asia AFB1 plays an im- portant 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 sam- ples 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”.
Impact on food safety and security In addition to the risk of mycotoxins to animal health, the risk to human health and food security is perhaps even greater in Asia. According to Prof Naresh Magan of Cranfield University, UK, climate change will have a major impact on Asia’s food safety and security. “It’s expected that Asia will face changing temperatures, elevated CO2
levels and weather events such as
extreme rainfall and droughts. These factors will influence the mycotoxin contamination of staple crops such as rice and maize. Contamination of such crops with mycotoxins will in- fluence yield and nutritional quality. Since most of Asia is dependent on rice, food security will be threatened.”
Carry-over effect In aquaculture, there is also concern about human health: i.e., the mycotoxin carry-over effect. Since fishmeal will probably be increasingly replaced by plant meals in the near future, the risk of mycotoxin contamination of aquafeed may in- crease for certain species. Tropical species, in particular, have a very low depuration period, which may cause mycotoxins to remain in the digestive tract, including in the liver. Most of these small fish species are eaten as a whole by humans, thus risking the carry-over of mycotoxins. According to Dr Rui A. Gonçalves of Lucta, Spain, the negative impact of mycotoxins is often overlooked in aquafeed. “There may be human health concerns (depending on species and production region), because of the carry-over effect to food. At the farm level the awareness of mycotoxin contamination is very low. Farmers simply don’t recognize the clinical signs. Sometimes, the animals seem perfectly healthy. However, there will be a huge reduction in growth performance as a re- sult of mycotoxin intake. And, even when it is recognized, species that are more likely to eat plant-based meals are gen- erally not very profitable and investment in feed additives is mostly not an option.” According to Dr Goncalves, mycotoxin management in aqua- culture (contrary to livestock, where “one solution fits all”) needs to be looked at differently. Feed formulation differs be- tween herbivorous, shrimps and carnivorous species, espe- cially when novel proteins are used. This is why the mycotoxin risk will also differ between
species.There is no specific myco- toxin legislation for aquaculture, with the exception of FB in
6 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 1, 2020
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