Mycotoxins and mycotoxigenic fungi in poultry feed for food-producing animals

GRECO M.; FRANCHI L.; RICO GOLBA S.; PARDO A.; POSE G.

SCIENTIFIC WORLD JOURNAL, THE

THESCIENTIFICWORLD LTD

Lugar: New York; Año: 2014 vol. 2014 p. 1 - 9

1537-744X

The intake of microbiological and/or mycotoxin-contaminated feed has adverse effects on animal health and productivity. The presence of pathogenic microorganism can affect directly or indirectly human health. Mycotoxins may be carried over into meat and eggs when poultry are fed with contaminated feed. Feedstuff used for poultry nutrition in Argentina were analyzed for fungal flora, mycotoxins natural levels, and bacteriological and nutritional quality. Ten mold genera were recovered, six of them known to be mycotoxigenic. More than 28 species were determined. Fumonisins were detected in all the samples (median 1,750 ppb). Forty four out of 49 samples (90%) were contaminated with DON (median 222 ppb) and OTA (median 5 ppb). Also, 44 out of 49 samples were contaminated with aflatoxins (median 2.685 ppb), 42 samples (86%) with ZEA (median 50 ppb) and 38 samples (78%) with T2-toxin (median 50 ppb). All samples were negative for E. coli and counts for S. aureus were >10 CFU/g. Only one out of 49 samples was positive for Salmonella. Ninety percent of the samples had at least one type of nutritional deficiency. This kind of studies are relevant in order to feed animals for optimal performance ensuring the safety and nutritional quality of food.