Thursday, September 20, 2012 - The following Advisory has been released by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Products Inspection:
OFFICAL ADVISORY NOTICE
THIS NOTIFICATION IS TO PROVIDE GUIDANCE FOR ALL ELEVATORS, GRAIN PROCESSORS AND FEED MILLS CONCERNING THE DISTRIBUTION OF AFLATOXIN-CONTAINING CORN IN COMMERCIAL CHANNELS OF TRADE AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT USE IN MIXED ANIMAL FEED
A facility may introduce aflatoxin-contaminated ingredients, i.e., ingredients containing more than 20 parts per billion (ppb) aflatoxin, directly into commercial channels based upon the following maximum levels in accordance with the Food and Drug Administration Compliance Policy Guide 683.100:
- 300 ppb for corn intended for finishing (i.e., feedlot) beef cattle;
- 200 ppb for corn intended for finishing swine of 100 pounds or greater;
- 100 ppb for corn intended for breeding beef cattle, breeding swine, or mature poultry;
- 20 ppb for corn, peanut products, and other animal feeds and feed ingredients, but excluding cottonseed meal, intended for immature animals;
- 20 ppb for corn, peanut products, cottonseed meal, and other animal feeds and feed ingredients intended for dairy animals, for animal species or uses not specified above, or when the intended use is not known.
The Department’s intent with this advisory notification is to raise awareness of all grain handlers in the State the maximum aflatoxin levels. Please be advised that all corn intended as animal feed is to be fed at the proper action level, ppb for the appropriate species and growth stage referenced above. Failure to observe these levels may result in adulteration of an animal feed. “Adulteration” with respect to aflatoxin is defined by the Federal, Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act and the Illinois Commercial Feed Act under 30/7, Adulteration, (a) “If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance, the commercial feed shall not be considered adulterated if the quantity of the substance in such commercial feed does not ordinarily render it injurious to health.”
Any commercial feed found to be adulterated is in violation of the Illinois Commercial Feed Act where it may be subject to enforcement action by the Department or referred to the US Food and Drug Administration for enforcement. Implementation of these maximum ppb levels allows aflatoxin-containing corn greater than 20 ppb to be diverted to animal feed while reducing the risk of aflatoxin in becoming “injurious to the health” of an animal.