150 



NGTC Statement on 1993 Crop Quality Issues 

 September 28, 1993 

 Page 2 



Quality Management 



When the gram mdustiy manages" quaUty it does so with a given set of constraints. The first 

 cor^tramt u; what comes to the elevator from the farm. What goes out of the elevator canTever 

 be better than what, on average, comes into the elevator. Quahty can be worse because L^^^^^ 

 unhke wme. does not get better with age. 'n.e final constraint is meeting the quahty speS- 

 tions of the buyer, whether a processor or export customer. y specmca 



Quality is a function of subjective and objective standards either set by the industry the Federal 

 Gram Inspecnon Service (FGIS). or the end-user through specific criteria. In som7ca7es such as 

 vomitoxm and aflato^n. the Food and Drug Administration or other government ageSsS 

 get mvolved. NormaUy the industry runs along smoothly with respect to quality, froducer 



SaWe.'"'°""°'' ' ''" "^ ^""^ '^' ^•^ '"'^ '^^P"'^ ^"°1"^°" mechanisms aS 



Vomitoxin and the 1993 Wheat Crop 



The industry was caught off-guard by vomitoxin this year because of the unusual occurrence of 

 the toxm and its widespread nature in Northern wheat areas. One of the things that distin- 

 gu^hes the current wheat vomitoxin concerns from the 1988 com aflatoxin scare is the nature 

 of the toxm and end-uses for the commodity contaminated. Afiatoxin is a carcinogen but com 



As a result of the human food concern, the FDA and end-user specifications are critical to 

 settmg values m the marketing chain. 



As wheat harvest began in the North, grain purchasers were caught in a quandary for several 

 '^^^°'^^J'^\ "1°5^ r«enl FDA pronouncement on vomitoxin was over a decade old As a 

 result FDA mdicated it was going to review the 1982 guidelines. Until that review was com- 

 pleted, no one reaUy knew what the rules were going to be. As you aU know, harvest does not 

 wait tor agency reviews. 



Sn ^,^^J ''"iTinI ^°\ ^ ^^ '""'*'^"' '^''' ^ y°" ^"^ purchasing grain under the assump- 

 tion that the old FDA rules were gomg to stand, you still did not know which field testing 

 method was gomg to suffice and the repeatability of the available tests did not satisfy some 

 users. ■' 



users. 



In the case of AGP. we seriously considered closing our doors until we had some definite 

 answer! from FDA. In the end. we decided to purchase vomitoxin-contaminated wheat and take 

 the nsk that the wheat ultimately would be marketable. Most other companies made the same 

 decision, but not all companies did. 



