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Millers require a DON test with all deliveries

nabim has issued the statement below regarding all milling wheat deliveries from February 1st. HGCA is working with its stakeholders to clarify the situation.

nabim protocol on the DON mycotoxin situation

The 2008 harvest proved difficult for a variety of reasons. Quality issues have been especially important with DON mycotoxin levels being higher than in previous years. This has led to some problems within the supply chain and many flour milling businesses have increased their level of 'due diligence' testing since the first samples of wheat arrived after harvest.

A number of meetings have taken place between various parts of the wheat supply chain in an attempt to resolve the food safety risks being presented by high DON levels in wheat. Great reliance has been placed of seller's risk assessment being carried out by farmers using the HGCA risk assessment model.

Unfortunately, due to high levels of DON in some batches of wheat, the risk assessment alone is not sufficient to ensure that wheat being marketed meets the legal requirements.    

With effect from February 1st 2009, nabim members in the flour milling sector have developed the following protocol for deliveries of UK origin wheat to UK flour mills.

ALL deliveries should be accompanied with a clearly stated test result(s) for DON mycotoxins whatever the seller's risk assessment declared on the grain passport.  The test result should be representative * of the parcel of grain from which each load originates in store or on farm and should appear on the grain passport at the time of delivery.

Whilst the current legal limit is set at 1250ppb some milling businesses may require lower levels depending on the nature of their businesses and the specifications of their customers.

Loads will not be accepted unless relevant DON test results can be provided. As part of their own due diligence procedures UK flour millers will continue to conduct a certain level of routine testing. Where millers results are significantly different to those supplied on the grain passport a detailed justification of their result will be required from the supplier.

Whilst members of nabim have developed this protocol, suppliers should contact their customers to understand their specific requirements.

*See the HGCA publication 'Grain sampling - A farmers guide'
Direct link: http://www.hgca.com/publink.aspx?id=1261

21 January 2009

To print out a PDF copy of nabim's protocol click here:
nabim protocol on the DON mycotoxin situation pdf  (16kb)
 

 

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