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Permission to blend aflatoxin corn in Iowa

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has received permission from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to allow corn containing more than 20 parts per billion (ppb) of aflatoxin to be blended with corn with lower levels or no aflatoxin for animal feed. This allows the corn to be safely fed to livestock pursuant to the FDA’s long-standing guidelines.

Before doing any blending of corn containing aflatoxin, the grain dealers and the Department must sign a compliance agreement. A memorandum outlining the application process and a copy of the compliance agreement will be sent to all grain dealers licensed by the Iowa Department of Agriculture.  It is also available from their website here:

Each batch of blended corn must be analyzed to determine the aflatoxin level. The analysis must be performed using approved sampling and analysis protocols and testing procedures outlined by the USDA Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). These results must be provided to the purchaser of the blended corn. The purchaser must also provide written assurance that the corn will be used for feed according to FDA guidelines.

The blended corn must be clearly identified and labeled for animal feed use only and corn containing aflatoxin levels greater than 500 ppb cannot be blended.

On August 15, 2012 the Department submitted a request to FDA to allow corn containing more than 20 ppb of aflatoxin to be blended with non-aflatoxin containing corn for animal feed. FDA granted Iowa a similar request during droughts in 2003 and 2005 when aflatoxin was found in the state.

Iowa has also started requiring the testing of all milk for aflatoxin as of August 31, 2012.

More information on dealing with aflatoxin is available from the Iowa State University Extension website here: