USDA Certifies QuickTox™ Kit for DON in Corn

WASHINGTON, DC (November 16, 2007) The USDA Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) has issued another Certificate of Performance for the QuickTox™ Kit for DON, expanding its use into corn testing, along with its already-certified performance in wheat.

This QuickTox Kit continues to be a popular and cost-effective solution for grain handlers everywhere who need to perform rapid screening for DON. With no special equipment required, no filtering, and no toxic solvents, the QuickTox Kit offers accurate, reliable, easy-to-read results for a 2 ppm screen – in corn or wheat – within five minutes.

“Ours is the market’s only qualitative test at 2 ppm, the screening level commonly used in grain handling and first point-of-contact environments,” said Simon Varney, Product Manager. “Detection at 2 ppm complements the product’s capacity to also screen grain at 1 and 0.5 ppm. The test extracts with tap water, offers the shortest shake time available, and requires no instrumentation.

“We aim to meet the needs of grain elevators, corn mills, ethanol plants, and feed manufacturers with this test kit,” Varney said. “As more mycotoxin testing moves from the lab to the dock, we design our tests for speed, reliability and ease of use.”

Deoxynivalenol (DON), also called vomitoxin, is a natural mycotoxin found in corn, wheat and barley infected by the Fusarium fungus. It is known to reduce the quality and value of bulk grain, pose human health risks in processed foods, and affect the performance of livestock fed DON-contaminated products. Under favorable conditions, DON levels may increase in storage.

Owing to these negative consequences, combined with DON’s widening geographical occurrence, grain handlers, mills, malters, and ethanol plants will need to perform DON testing more regularly. The QuickTox Kit offers a rapid on-site solution to the need for accurate segregation decisions for corn, wheat and barley.

Click here for more information on the QuickTox Kit for DON.