Mycotoxins confirmed across US during harvest

The Monday Mycotoxin Report from Neogen on October 5 highlighted new confirmed reports of mycotoxins in corn across the country.
Aflatoxin, fumonisin and deoxynivalenol (DON) have been confirmed in several states:
Aflatoxin (more than 20 ppb is too high for food and pet food)

• Georgia (more than 100 ppb)
• Texas (more than 40 ppb)
• North Carolina (more than 100 ppb)
• South Carolina (more than 20 ppb)
• Virginia (more than 100 ppb)
• Kansas (more than 40 ppb)

Fumonisin

• Texas (more than 6 ppm)
• North Carolina (more than 7 ppm)
• California (more than 10 ppm)

New confirmed reports of DON (more than 1 ppm is too high for food and pet food, more than 5 ppm is too high for swine)

• Missouri (up to 2 ppm)
• Illinois (up to 1 ppm)
• Iowa (more than 1 ppm)

There also are confirmed reports of DON in barley in Virginia, Maryland, North Dakota and Minnesota.
Neogen said in its September 21 report that all major classes of wheat in the U.S. are affected by DON. The report said the milling quality of wheat has been reduced due to high DON levels. DON has also been detected in wheat in Canada. The U.S. wheat harvest is complete.

Harvest progress

Generally, across the country, warmer, dry weather aided crop maturity in the past week. Corn and soybean fields planted late have advanced considerably, improving harvest prospects for yield and quality. The exception to this is the Missouri River Valley region and the Southeast, where some areas received up to 4 inches of rain, slowing harvest.
According to the USDA, corn maturity across the country has advanced to near normal.
Ninety-seven percent of corn is in the dented stage, which is on par with the five-year average. The overall percentage of fully mature corn is 71 percent, compared with the five-year average of 72 percent.
However, corn development is behind in some states: Michigan is 10 percent behind normal; Texas, 11 percent behind normal; and Wisconsin, 9 percent behind normal.
Corn condition across the country is unchanged from last week, with 68 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition and 10 percent in poor to very poor condition.
Overall, the percentage of corn harvested, 18 percent, is behind the five-year average by 5 percent. Iowa is 9 percent behind and Minnesota and Tennessee are 7 percent behind.