Iowa Requires Testing of Milk for Aflatoxin

Aug 30, 2012

Iowa Department of Agriculture to Screen for Aflatoxin Starting Aug. 31

The Iowa Department of Agriculture will require that milk being produced in Iowa be tested for traces of aflatoxin starting August 31, 2012. Aflatoxin is a by-product of grain fungus or mold and it’s a carcinogen. Aflatoxin can often be found in host crops that are more susceptible to infection by – Aspergillus after a significant period of time being exposed to a high-humidity environment or in this case damage from stressful conditions such as drought.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established guidelines for acceptable levels for aflatoxin in milk or livestock feed. Certain types of livestock feed can contain levels of up to 300 ppb – for finishing cattle, where as anything for human conception must be less than 20 ppb and for milk it can’t be any higher than 0.5 ppb.

“We were well aware that aflatoxin could be an issue this year due to the historic drought conditions,” Northey said. “Now that farmers are starting to harvest silage, and corn in some cases, it is appropriate to begin this screening process to make sure our milk supply remains safe.”

More information about aflatoxin in corn can be found under the “Dealing with Disasters” page in the Iowa State University Extension Outreach paper - www.extension.iastate.edu/topic/recovering-disasters.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.