52 



Mr. Wessel. We have a memorandum of understanding with the 

 Federal Grain Inspection Service. And the terms of this agreement, 

 this working arrangement, I think are very conducive to the kind 

 of activity we had this past summer concerning the vomitoxin and 

 aflatoxin situations. 



Mr. Johnson. I beHeve you are aware of a letter received by my 

 office from a gentleman in Iowa whose company produces bakery 

 mixes utilizing a number of grains in various forms. And I am won- 

 dering if you are seriously considering the points that he raised 

 with Dr. Troxell regarding the further refining of the allowable lim- 

 its to take into account the use of milled products in further com- 

 bination with other ingredients? 



Mr. Wessel. We just received this letter as well, Mr. Chairman. 

 And certainly we are going to give this gentleman's concerns full 

 consideration. And at the moment, I cannot say what our final deci- 

 sion may be. 



But certainly we will take everything he raised under advise- 

 ment. 



Mr. Johnson. Mr. Emerson. 



Mr. Emerson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Wessel, I want to commend you and Mr. McChesney for your 

 very prompt and expeditious consideration of the appeal made to 

 you by Missouri's director of agriculture. 



We felt that you handled this matter very effectively, and a lot 

 of corn farmers in Missouri are grateful to you for your good atten- 

 tion to the matter that — it is a matter of livelihood to a lot of peo- 

 ple and thought it was handled about as well as it could have been. 



We thank you. 



I wonder how widespread you think the aflatoxin contamination 

 problem is. Is it just Missouri, or is it going beyond there? And 

 what is the potential for it to spread this year and next year? 



Mr. Wessel. At the moment, it is hard to say exactly what is the 

 full extent of the problem. The Midwest typically does not pose a 

 problem with aflatoxin in corn. The aflatoxin situation involving 

 com is mainly focused in the Southeastern part of the United 

 States. 



For this year, it appears, at the moment, that the problem with 

 aflatoxin in com, at least in the Midwest, is limited to the boot heel 

 area of Missouri. 



From what I understand, the harvest is not complete in some of 

 the States beyond or further north of Missouri, to ascertain wheth- 

 er or not, in fact, a problem does exist. So we are going to keep 

 surveillance on the situation, keep an eye on what is going on, 

 maintain our contacts with State officials and the industry, and 

 react accordingly. 



Mr. Emerson. It is interesting, in the context of what you are 

 saying, there the boot heel of Missouri is more related to the 

 Southeastem part of the United States than it is to the Midwest. 



The boot heel sort of — we are on the border line there, and they 

 are considered — that region of my district is considered Midsouth, 

 whereas north of there is Midwest; and you look at a map, and 

 what you just said makes a lot of sense. 



As I have been inquiring as to what the thought has been as to 

 what was the specific cause of this year's particular problem, I was 



