Illinois Public Health to test milk for aflatoxin

Plans are to test raw milk four times during the next 6 months at all processing plants.

Kay Shipman

Published: Aug 20, 2012

The Illinois Department of Public Health next month will resume testing raw milk for aflatoxin because of possible mycotoxin-contaminated grain due to the drought, an agency spokesman told FarmWeek.

The agency’s food, drugs, and dairies division recently determined it needed to resume sampling after the practice had been suspended previously, said Melaney Arnold.

Currently, the plan is to test raw milk four times in the next six months at each processing plant, but that frequency may change depending on the situation, she said. The sampling will continue through next spring.

“As the farmers move more toward corn feed (for cows), we will be checking” for aflatoxin, Arnold said.

The Food and Drug Administration sets guidelines for allowable aflatoxin levels in livestock feed at so many parts per billion (ppb). The restriction for dairy cattle feed is 20 ppb.

The guideline for allowing milk into the supply is less than 0.5 of a ppb of aflatoxin, according to the state public health agency.

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