List of Potentially Hazardous Contaminants in Animal Feed and Feed Ingredients

Karen B. Ekelman
AFSS Public Meeting
September 12, 2006

Slide 2

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• AFSS working definition of hazard: A biological, chemical or physical agent in, or condition of, feed with the potential to cause an adverse health effect in humans or animals. 
• AFSS working definition of contaminant: All potentially toxic or deleterious biological, chemical or physical hazards inadvertently present in animal feeds and feed ingredients.

Slide 3

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

The list of potentially harmful feed contaminants should not be considered to be the definitive list of feed contaminants that pose a significant risk to animal or human health

• List was developed by consultation with a limited number of experts, and with no requirement that they provide data to support their choices
• Some items on the list may turn out to pose very low relative risks to animal or human health
• Some items may need to be added to the list

Slide 4

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Biological
  • Agents responsible for some Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies
    • Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
    • Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

Slide 5

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Biological (cont.)
  • Microbiological
    • Bacillis species (anthrax)
    • Clostridium species
    • E. Coli
    • Mycobacterium
    • Pseudomonas
    • Salmonella enterica
    • Staphylococcus

Slide 6

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Chemical
  • Pesticides
    • Aldrin
    • Benzene hexachloride (BHC)
    • Chlordane
    • Chlorpyrifos
    • Chlorpyrifos-methyl
    • Diazinon
    • Dieldrin
    • Dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane (DDT) and breakdown products TDE and DDE

Slide 7

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Chemical (cont.)
  • Pesticides (cont.)
    • Dicofol
    • Endosulfan
    • Endrin
    • Ethion
    • HCH alpha
    • HCH beta
    • HCH gamma (Lindane)

Slide 8

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Chemical (cont.)
  • Pesticides (cont.)
    • Heptachlor/Heptachlor Epoxide
    • Hexachlorobenzene
    • Malathion
    • Methoxychlor
    • Mire
    • Parathion
    • Toxaphene (Camphechlor)
    • Tribuphos

Slide 9

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Chemical (cont.)
  • Mycotoxins
    • Aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2)
    • Deoxynivalenol (DON or vomitoxin)
    • Fumonisins (B1, B2, B3)
    • Ochratoxin
    • Zearalonone

Slide 10

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Chemical (cont.)
  • Others
    • Ethoxyquin
    • Dioxins
    • Perchlorate
    • Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
    • Propylene Glycol (not Ethylene Glycol)
    • Selenium

Slide 11

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Heavy Metals
  • Arsenic
  • Cadmium
  • Chromium
  • Lead
  • Mercury

Slide 12

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Radionuclides
  • Americium 241
  • Cesium 134
  • Iodine 131
  • Plutonium 238
  • Ruthenium 103
  • Ruthenium 106
  • Strontium 90

Slide 13

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

• Physical
  • Bone
  • Glass
  • Metal
  • Plastic
  • Other

Slide 14

Potentially Hazardous Contaminants

The following potentially hazardous feed contaminants are not being included in the first round of the AFSS risk ranking model:

• Drugs
  • in feeds for approved species, but in the wrong amounts
  • in feeds for unapproved species
• Feed additives and ingredients
  • in feeds for approved species, but in the wrong amounts
  • in feeds for unapproved species
• Contaminants deliberately added to feeds (e.g., bioterrorism)
• Weeds and/or feed ingredients not declared on the label,
  • when the contaminant is not considered harmful