Purina, Taking Safety to the Highest Level
The following is an article from Dr. Randy Raub, Research Director for Purina Mills, explaining fumonisin and the problems associated with it. With this year's corn crop coming off a drought, it has been a real problem in many areas. With Purina's commitment to quality, performance and safety, their extensive testing procedure has rejected many loads of corn this year. Our question to you is, "Where do you think it goes?" It certainly is not dumped in a ditch somewhere, but is sold to places that don't test for fumonisin. If your feed company or local elevator tells you that there is really no need to test for fumonisin, they are not fooling anyone but themselves. Fumonisin concern is not a scare tactic, but a fact. If you are "on the bubble" of whether or not to switch to Purina, there is no better time than now to do so.
Fumonisin Toxicity in Corn
By Dr. Randy Raub, Research Director, Purina Mills LLC
What is Fumonisin?
Fumonisins are environmental toxins produced by molds and found primarily in corn. Fumonisins are usually not a concern in corn when the corn is grown and harvested under normal environmental/weather conditions. However, this year's weather patterns in many parts of the country where corn is grown have been favorable for the production of fumonisin. Warnings have been issued by both federal and state Departments of Agriculture concerning the level of fumonisin in this year's corn crop.
Why is it a concern in horses?
Horses and rabbits are identified as being the most sensitive species to fumonisins. Fumonisins destroy the brain and result in permanent disability and/or death.
What are the current recommendations/guidelines?
The U.S. FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine has made recommendations that corn products used in horse feeds contain less than 5 parts per million (PPM) and that the total diet should contain less than 1 ppm.
What is Purina doing to protect animals from this potentially deadly toxin?
Purina tests every shipment of incoming ingredients every day to insure nutrient standards are met. With this year's fumonisin problem every shipment of corn is being tested for fumonisin. Any shipments of corn testing at 5 ppm or over is rejected and not used in horse feed manufacturing. Several years ago Purina designated only certain plants to manufacture horse feed in order to better insure quality, consistency and safety of horse feed. This allows us to adjust our corn purchasing programs to target the purchase of corn for our horse plants from areas of the country that have shown a reduced incidence of fumonisin problems. In addition, the formulations of all horse feeds have been adjusted to insure that all Purina horse feed contains less than 1 ppm of fumonisin. Since most Purina feeds are not fed as the total diet, this provides an extra level of safety. As for those Purina feeds that can be fed as a complete and total diet, we have made additional adjustments to those formulations to insure their safety. Because of these formulation adjustments you may notice, in some Purina feeds, a reduction in the amount of corn and an increase in other ingredients to offset the reduction in corn. However, we feel that such adjustments are necessary in order to better insure the safety of your horse from the potentially devastating effects of fumonisin toxicity. These formulation adjustments will not negatively impact the nutritional value of you horse feed, and when the fumonisin levels in corn have subsided we will gradually return to the original formulations.
We apologize for any change in appearance in your horse feed that you may notice, but we hope you understand and appreciate the precautions we have decided to make in order to help insure the safety of your horse.
