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agronomists and grain scientists in affected areas also conduct widespread sampling of the 

 growing crop, as do state and federal regulatory agencies. Educational meetings for 

 producers and grain elevator operators are conducted to provide guidance on how to detect 

 aflatoxin; proper harvesting, drying and storage procedures; and ways to sample and screen 

 for the presence of aflatoxin in inbound deliveries. 



If weather conditions exist that signal the potential emergence of aflatoxin, country 

 elevators perform screening tests to determine if it is present. If such testing indicates the 

 mold is present, the grain is tested further to determine if the levels exceed FDA guidelines. 

 In some cases, grain elevator managers have instituted routine screening of all in-bound grain 

 regardless of growing conditions. 



Furthermore, once aflatoxin is known to be present in an area, the entire maiiceting 

 chain takes additional stringent quality-control measures to prevent contaminated grain firom 

 entering market chaimels and to direct such com to FDA-approved uses. Processors and 

 food companies have extensive quality-control programs in place that utilize sophisticated 

 laboratory tests to detect the presence of aflatoxin in incoming shipments firom country 

 elevators long before products ever reach the consimier. 



Export elevators, too, have instituted quality-control measures to screen inbound com 

 prior to unloading in response to increased awareness about the occurrence of aflatoxin and 

 the demands of overseas customers. This has increased awareness about aflatoxin in the 

 domestic market. For instance, one exporter originating com from a region where aflatoxin 

 tends to be more prevalent that has instituted a policy of testing each in-bound load for 

 aflatoxin and rejecting each load that fails the test reports that country elevators serving this 

 export fiiicility have implemented similar testing requirements. 



Stringent contamination-prevention procedures implemented by domestic processors 

 and export elevators — coupled with increasingly conunon quality-control requirements 



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