The rains which have delayed Australia's wheat harvest have lifted fears of mould contamination, with GrainCorp warning it had found significant levels of the vomitoxin in isolated grain samples.
The Australian grain handler said it was stepping up checks for vomitoxin after finding the fungal residue, which causes loss of condition, and potentially death, when fed to livestock in feed grain, in six samples beyond upper limits typically specified by buyers.
In one case, out of the 130 or so tested, vomitoxin was found to levels more than 10 times those acceptable to many buyers, GrainCorp said, citing the worst samples as coming from the Darling Downs region in Queensland and the Liverpool Plans in New South Wales.
In the Liverpool Plans, initial results showed that suspect white grain "is more likely to be linked to the presence of fusarium head blight", the fungus which secretes vomitoxin, than so-called white grain disorder, which has no toxic effects.
Elsewhere, white grain disorder, which has "minimal effect" on the nutritional value of flour produced from it, accounted for the great majority of the suspect white wheat.
'More to come'
And Macquarie analyst Alex Bos in London, saying that GrainCorp's findings were "not a surprise", warned that these were unlikely to be the last cautions over crop contamination issues, given the extent of the dampness in Australia.
"We will probably be hearing more about mould, test weights and quality issues in the crop over the next few weeks," Mr Bos told Agrimoney.com.
Meteorlogix meteorologists forecast further rains in parts of Queensland and New South Wales, with "showers and thundershowers redeveloping in eastern and northern areas Wednesday through Friday".
The weather service added: "Heavy rains continue to delay and disrupt the wheat harvest through the east. Wet conditions will also reduce quality of the crop being harvested."
'Safe as of now'
Indeed, some forecasters, such as Australia & New Zealand bank, have already warned that more than half the national crop could be downgraded to feed, although grain contaminated with vomitoxin would not even be viable for livestock feed, unless blended with better-quality supplies.
GrainCorp said that its low-grade Fed3 feed wheat pool, which contains up to 400 white grains per half litre, was "on the basis of the analysis conducted to date, safe for feeding to both ruminant and monogastric livestock".
The company said it would continue to monitor receivals of wheat and durum containing white grain "to ensure that food safety is maintained".
Vomitoxin was last year an issue for US farmers after the rain which delayed autumn harvests raised levels of contamination in some cases.
Academics at the University of Missouri at the time reported hearing vomitoxin contamination of up to 40 parts per million ?eight times the level needed to sicken pigs.
