DON/Vomitoxin levels in popcorn

[Katie Funk]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some guidance on acceptable levels of vomitoxin in popcorn. We had our three varieties tested by ICIA, and while they were within acceptable limits of aflatoxin and fumonisin, we could find no guidance on acceptable limits of DON/vomitoxin specifically for popcorn.

I heard from a couple growers who supply major popcorn companies, and one said they were not required to test for vomitoxin, and another said they had to meet the limit of other food-grade grains of 1 ppm.

While we of course want to make sure that our popcorn is safe to eat, it is frustrating not to find any information on tolerance levels in popcorn, which may well be higher than other food grade grains due to high heat application and low/no popping rate of infected kernels. For fumonisin, for example, dry milled corn products must be below 2 ppm, while popcorn only needs to be below 3 ppm.

We are in the position of having to take a "better safe than sorry" approach and reclean and retest our popcorn. But with such a low-profit-margin product and at our small scale, that entails a considerable burden of time and money that may make that profit margin disappear entirely, and in the meantime, we are unable to fulfill sales. It would make us feel a lot better to know that it is necessary for the safety of the product.

Any help that any of you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Katie Funk

Funks Grove Heritage Fruits & Grains