Occurrence of Aflatoxin B₁, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone in feeds in China during 2018-2020

The current study was conducted to investigate the individual and combined occurrence of aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁), deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN) in feeds from various Provinces of China during 2018 to 2020. A total of 3,507 feed samples, including 2,090 feed ingredients and 1,417 complete feed samples, were collected from different areas of China for mycotoxins analysis.

The individual contamination of AFB₁, DON and ZEN were present in more than 81.9%, 96.4% and 96.9% of feed samples, respectively, with average concentration ranges of AFB₁ between 1.2-27.4 μg/kg, DON between 458.0-1,925.4 μg/kg and ZEN between 48.1-326.8 μg/kg. Notably, 0.9%, 0.5% and 0.1% of feed ingredients, and 1.2-12.8%, 0.9-2.9% and 0-8.9% of complete feeds for pigs, poultry and ruminants with AFB₁, ZEN and DON that exceeded China's safety standards, respectively. Moreover, more than 81.5% of feed ingredients and 95.7% of complete feeds were co-contaminated with various combinations of these mycotoxins.

This study indicates that the feeds in China were universally contaminated with AFB₁, DON and ZEN during the past 3 years. These findings highlight the significance of monitoring mycotoxin contaminant levels in the domestic animal feed, and the importance of carrying out feed administration and remediation strategies for mycotoxin control.