USA—DSM Animal Nutrition & Health has announced the FDA approval of a new enzyme for use in pig feed, fumonisin esterase, as well as an update on their North America mycotoxin survey.

Paige Gott, Ph.D., DSM mycotoxin manager, said fumonisin esterase is for the degradation of fumonisins present in pig feed, and this approval expands DSM’s commitment to innovation in mycotoxin management.

“This is the first mycotoxin degrading ingredient to go through FDA’s Food Additive Petition (FAP) process and will be the first product ever to be approved for degrading fumonisins in feed in the U.S. market,” said Gott.

DSM’s survey of 274 corn samples and 46 corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) collected from 23 states revealed mycotoxin contamination trends in U.S. corn ingredients, focusing on the year-to-year changes across the country.

“Among the corn samples tested in our annual survey, 90% of the samples were positive for mycotoxins in 2021, versus 88% in 2020,” said Gott.

“We also identified that type B trichothecenes and Zearalenone increased in prevalence from 2020 to 2021, indicating an increased likelihood of exposure in herds and greater potential for negative effects.”

The importance of feeding quality grain is more important than ever as feed costs continue to impact pork producer’s bottom line.

Lan Zheng, Ph.D., DSM technical services manager, discussed why as a result, it is imperative now, to make sure mycotoxins aren’t affecting swine feed performance.

“Mycotoxins can have several negative outcomes to swine health and performance,” said Zheng. “From reproductive impairment to digestive disorders, decreased vaccine efficacy, and increased susceptibility to infections, it can be devastating to a swine operation.”

Mycotoxin risk-management programs

Gott shared how producers can implement a mycotoxin risk-management program on their operation

“Proper sampling and analysis are key to a comprehensive mycotoxin risk-management program,” she said.

“Mycotoxins are not evenly distributed throughout feed, leading to variation in exposure over time. Therefore, routine analysis can provide insights into the types and levels of mycotoxins animals are exposed to.

She concluded that knowing this, it’s possible to develop a customized mitigation strategy to address challenges.

Although Mycotoxins can never be completely removed from the food supply, it is possible through risk assessment, to define levels that are unlikely to be impact herd performance.

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