Deoxynivalenol

Deoxynivalenol, widely called vomitoxin, is a trichothecene mycotoxin made by Fusarium moulds. It contaminates wheat, barley, maize and oats, especially after wet growing seasons, causing vomiting and feed refusal in livestock and gastrointestinal illness in people at high exposures. Because it survives milling and baking, regulators set maximum limits in cereals and cereal products. Control begins in the field with resistant varieties and timely fungicides, continues through grain drying, and finishes with sorting and laboratory testing of harvested lots. Rapid test kits at grain intake help elevators reject contaminated loads before they enter the food chain.