Contaminated corn also found in Belgian feed

The Federal Agency for Food Safety (FASFC) was last week informed of the presence of a carcinogen in corn coming to the Netherlands via a distributor in Germany. German authorities confirmed that they found excessive levels of aflatoxin B1, a chemical produced by fungus, in a shipment of corn from Serbia. Now, it has been discovered, part of the contaminated feed also ended up in Belgium, where it would be processed into feed for pigs and poultry and, to a lesser extent, in cattle feed. The warning the FASFC received from the European Commission informed the agency that the corn slightly exceeded the European standard and showed that part of the contaminated corn was delivered to a Belgian manufacturer. A shipment of 53,000 tonnes of corn has been blocked. But the agency has ruled out any danger to humans either through milk from cows fed with the contaminated feed or from eating meat.