Under the authority of the United States Grains Standards Act and the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) provides official mycotoxin testing services throughout the United States for domestic and export grains, oilseeds and processed-grain commodities. AMS establishes test kit performance criteria and periodically updates them to improve accuracy and meet operational needs. AMS proposes several changes to the criteria in 2021 and seeks comments on the impact of the changes.
Official testing services are provided for aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, ochratoxin A and zearalenone. Testing, at field locations, requires rapid, inexpensive, and accurate methods to effectively assess U.S. grain quality. An essential part of ensuring the quality of official mycotoxin testing is the AMS test kit evaluation program, through which test kits are evaluated and certified for conformance to specific criteria. Only test kits having AMS certification are approved for official mycotoxin testing.
Notice of the proposed changes were published in the Federal Register on December 18, 2020.
For more information contact Thomas Weber, Branch Chief, Technology and Science Division, at (816) 891-0449 or Thomas.A.Weber@usda.gov.