Officials figured there would be aflatoxin in corn this year, they just didn't know how much. But the levels have been confirmed by independent labs. Everyone should be testing sorghum as well as cottonseed and corn.
Weather is a major determining factors in causing the buildup of aflatoxin, a carcinogen, in grain.
Aflatoxin is produced by a fungus which, in addition to corn and sorghum, also may attack peanuts and cottonseed. It often takes up residence in kernels of corn that have suffered through a droughty growing season. Ironically, the drought this year started the problem, but it has been recent rains, Latimer said, that led to the problem in sorghum because new shoots are producing immature grains that are being harvested with the rest of the field. Latimer, whose state chemist office is a part of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, said corn and sorghum from 11 counties have been analyzed. Results on corn have found aflatoxin as expected but not in as high levels as agricultural officials had suspected.