Biomin America Inc. announced the addition of a new mycotoxin analytical service, Spectrum Top 50, to its Biomin PROcheck service.

According to the company, this service is unique because it:

* Quickly uncovers a wider range of mycotoxins (55, to be exact) in feed and feed ingredients;

* Detects masked mycotoxins (that cannot be detected by conventional methods) and so-called "emerging mycotoxins" (whose effects are still being discovered);

* Provides comprehensive profile of most mycotoxins that are shown to cause negative effects in animals, and

* Helps customers implement a powerful mycotoxin risk management program.

With the addition of Spectrum Top 50, Biomin said it will have three Spectrum mycotoxin analytical services available through its no-charge PROcheck service. All the Spectrum services utilize the liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry technology. They include:

Spectrum Basic. It tests feedstuffs for a panel of up to 18 mycotoxins within the six major groups: aflatoxins, zearalenone, A-trichothecenes (T-2, HT-2, neosolaniol, etc.), B-trichothecenes (deoxynivalenol/vomitoxin, nivalenol, etc.), fumonisins and ochratoxin-A. This panel is considered ‘the standard’ in the industry for testing of commonly occurring mycotoxins and is an accepted part of an effective mycotoxin risk management program.

Spectrum Top 50. In addition to testing all the mycotoxins covered in Spectrum Basic, this test goes beyond to screen additional mycotoxins, including masked and emerging ones and their metabolites such as alternaria toxins, aspergillus toxins, enniatins, beauvericin, fusarium metabolites and penicillium toxins. It is an advanced test that provides a detailed picture of 55 mycotoxins that are proved to cause negative effects in animals, thus helping put an ultimate mycotoxin risk management program in place.

Spectrum 380. It tests for all the mycotoxins covered in Spectrum Top 50 and goes beyond to identify almost all the known (about 450-plus) mycotoxins and their metabolites, including masked and emerging mycotoxins. It is the most comprehensive, powerful and accurate analysis of its kind, Biomin said, and helps build the toxin profile of feedstuffs that would be helpful to research and/or investigative purposes.

According to Biomin, the existence of mycotoxins, as well as their synergistic complications, cannot be understated in today’s agricultural marketplace.

“Our customers encounter mycotoxin contamination daily. That contamination has been proven to undermine nutrition, reproduction and animal health as well as impair growth, decrease feed intake and cause other serious immune complications. With the introduction of Spectrum Top 50, our customers will have access to a screening that will identify 55 mycotoxins and metabolites that are known to contribute to these challenges,” Biomin America Inc. president Simon Walley explained.

“Biomin and Romer Labs are using their synergies to deliver a new service that clearly benefits the customer. This state-of-the-art technology provides unparalleled speed for such a complete view of their mycotoxin situation,” added Jan Vanbrabant, managing director of Biomin and executive board chairman of Erber Group. Both Biomin and Romer Labs are a part of Erber Group.

Free Consultation. PROcheck is a comprehensive, five-step mycotoxin risk management program offered free of charge to customers. Through a series of steps, including monitoring and reporting of mycotoxins, on-farm consultancy, training and tailor-made recommendations, a customer can implement a mycotoxin risk management program to safeguard the health and performance of their animals.