Mycotoxins in Dairy products
INTRODUCTION
The word mycotoxin is derived from a combination of a Greek word (mykes
mukos) and a Latin word (toxicum) meaning poison. This is a secondary metabolite
produced by organisms of the fungus kingdom commonly known as molds. The word
mycotoxin is used to refer to the toxic chemicals produced as the micro organisms feed
on agricultural produces.
Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins which contaminate animal’s feedstuffs.
This in turn affects the animal’s health and lowers its productivity. Mycotoxins have
been associated with diseases such as ketosis, metrites and mastitis especially in dairy
animals. Exposure of an animal to mycotoxines will lower the animal’s immune system
such that the mycotoxin induced diseases will not be cured by veterinary therapy.
At advanced level of an animal’s exposure to mycotoxin, the concentration of
microorganisms in the animal’s rumen and the functioning of other major organs such
as the gut, kidney, liver and the reproductive system reduce. This will reduce the
animal’s milk production in cases of dairy animals, reduced its intake of dry matter and
make it more resistant to treatment.
Among the major mycotoxins is aflatoxin, which is indicated by reduced intake of
feeds and loss of weight by animals. Calves are the most affected by aflatoxin than
older animals and this is characterized by drying and peeling of their skin on the muzzle,
unthriftness, and liver damage. Fed with feeds contaminated with aflatoxins, dairy
animals will drastically reduce their milk production. In addition, the animals will suffer
from cystic ovaries, low concentration rate and uterine infection. Aflatoxin will appear in
the milk immediately the animal feeds on aflatoxin contaminated feeds and the
consumption of this milk causes cancer.
Deoxynivalenol is another feed contaminant with the effect of reducing animals’ weight,
reduces their feed intake and decreases their productivity. It is characterized by
diarrhea, miscarriage, and hemorrhage in animals, reducing their productivity.
T-2 toxin on the other hand causes intestinal hemorrhage, gastroenteritis and
death to animals. It is characterized by bloody diarrhea, reduced feeding and intestinal
irritation. In dairy animals, T-2 toxin reduces their milk productivity and prohibits the
adjustment of fresh cows to the lactation diet. T-2 toxin is responsible for the ever
increasing deaths of dairy animals.
Zearalenone as a major mycotoxin found in silage, corn and wheat grains is
characterized by vulvar mucus discharge and difficulties in heat detection in animals.
Due to the reduced fertility rates caused by Zearalenone, dairy farmers are forced to
repeatedly use artificial insemination. The productivity of animals fed with feeds
contaminated by T-2 will reduce because of the animals’ poor health.
Maize- based feeds are predominantly affected by fumonisins, a mycotoxin
produced by fusarium verticcillioides. This mycotoxin causes a high decline in milk
production in dairy animals and is associated with liver disease in these animals.
Ochratoxins on the other hand is a mycotoxin that causes depression, dehydration and
reduced weigh in calves. The presence of this toxin in animal feeds causes unbalanced
nutrition, poor health and may lead to death o the animals. Reduced productivity and
sometimes loss of the animals due to exposure to mycotoxins causes serious losses to
farmers.
Considering the effects of mycotoxins to animals, it is advisable that dairy
farmers should employ a mycotoxin deactivator. This will ensure that animals’ health is
restored and their productivity guaranteed. Such a preventive measure is crucial
because some mycotoxin induced diseases cannot be cured by the use of veterinary
therapy. Other mycotoxins such as aflatoxin cause cancer to the consumer of the dairy
products making the consumption of milk dangerous. Farmers should therefore make
the health of their animals a priority so that they may increase their profits and ensure
safety to the consumers of their dairy products. This will be done by ensuring that they
feed their animals with mycotoxin free feeds by using a mycotoxin deactivator before
feeding their animals.
Problem Statement
Mycotoxin are naturally occurring toxin that cannot be detected or be determined
on where they should occur on not. They have posed a great problem to different
countries due to their effects that affect the animals’ health and productivity as well.
There are different and many diseases that are associated with mycotoxins and they
pose complexity in dealing with them because of their wide and diverse effects.
Exposing animals to mycotyoxins lowers the animals’ immune system and on the
other hand, opportunists’ diseases attack the animal which may require veterinary
therapy. These have caused increased costs in treating and in dealing with the problem.
The study will thoroughly investigate different cases of mycotixins and the methods that
were used to deal with the problem.
Hypotheses
The hypothesis of this research is to determine how Mycotoxins in dairy products
occur and how it affects the dairy products in different countries. Mycotoxins have been
a great problem in different countries and have been an issue of concern. Some
countries have been severely by these bacteria and have been looking for ways to
alleviate this problem and trying to curb the problem.
Mycotoxins have been a great problem that is being addressed and search for different
ways to wipe out this problem have been underway though there has not been any
major success. Different researchers are coming up with different ways on how this
problem can be alleviated and wiped out and how the bacteria have been multiplying
adding resistance to the already implemented ways to finish it completely.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to analyze how mycotoxins in dairy products have
attacked different countries and what efforts are being done to curb the problem. The
study compares how different countries have coped with the problem and the probable
causes of these bacteria. The study will also look at the statistics of the effects of the
bacteria to different countries.
Aims and Objectives
The objectives of this study are to completely know and learn how the
mycotoxins in dairy products have affected different countries and the efforts that are
being undertaken to alleviate the problem. Though these bacteria have affected
different countries especially in Europe, the study aims look forward at:
 To understand the impact of mycotoxins in different countries

To understand the different efforts that are being taken to completely finish
the problem brought about by mycotoxins.
 To determine the most effective strategy used to wipe out mycotoxins
 To determine how different countries select their strategy
 To determine how successful are these strategies in fighting the problem
Research question
Mycotoxins in dairy product have been an issue that needs an urgent measure to
deal with it. There are different tools that have been estimated to be effective in dealing
with the problem. Some of the tools have been thought to be effective while others have
been thought to have no conclusive value in dealing with the problem. In this study, the
questions that would be answered include:
 What are the most effective methods of dealing with mycotoixins in dairy
products?
 What are major different courses of mycotoxins?
 What are the different countries that have been hit by the mycotoxin problem?
LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review as contained in this study mainly focuses on the debate
concerning the effects of mycotoxins on dairy products. A greater emphasis has been
given to the effects of specific types of mycotoxins on dairy production as highlighted by
different scholars over the world history. Issue on existing regulations and legislations
concerning the contents of mycotoxins in dairy products feeds across different countries
in the world have also been highlighted in the literature relevant to this area of study.
Some of the previous data concerning efforts to prevent the effects of mycotoxins in
dairy products consequently forms part of this literature review.
Mycotoxins based food products have been studied all over the world in the 20 th
and 21st centuries. Documentation on the existence of mycotoxins was only brought into
the lime light in the 1960s.However, mycotoxins’ effects on people and domestic
animals had been suspected long before their existence. Death losses of cattle
consuming moldy corn was firstly reported in the United States in the early 1950s with
later studies showing that Aspergillus and penicillium fungi were the main toxic
substances involved (Brunside, 1957).Mycotoxins are considered less toxic in ruminants
as compared to the non ruminants due to the former’s ability to detoxificate these
substances in their rumens.Aflatoxin has been identified as the most problematic
mycotoxin in dairy.
Despite the potential risks of feeding domestic animals with moldy grain being
identified long ago in the world, the study of mycotoxins began in the year 1960 with the
outbreak of Turkey-X disease in the United kingdom(Matossian,1989).It was from
researches emanating from this outbreak that the toxic substance found in peanuts
suspected to have caused the outbreak was biologically and chemically characterized. It
was consequently established that this particular toxic substance (Aflatoxin) resulted
from a toxic metabolite in the milk (ALLcroft, 1961).
Mycotoxins occur all over the world and are continuously consumed by dairy
animals. As a result, mycotoxins cause subclinical losses to dairy farmers, increases
diseases in dairy animals and reduce milk productivity (Gareis, 1989). According to
Gareis, mycotoxin concentration in animals’ feeds is the major cause of severe
diseases in animals and which in most cases leads to death. It is however difficult to
detect mycotoxicosis in animals because of non specific symptoms and inaccurate feed
sampling and analysis by dairy farmers. However, mycotoxins should be considered as
a causative factor whenever an unspecified diagnosis is made.
According to Moy, “human health problems caused by the consumption of most
mycotoxins are complex and poorly understood” (Moy, 1998). However, several
mycotoxins such as aflatoxin occurring in dairy products have been accused with
causing cancer to the consumer. Research by the US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has shown regulation in milk should be put in place because of the threat of
aflatoxin (Trucksess, 1998).
In 1962, it was discovered that the outbreak of Turkey X Disease in England was
as a result of consumption of aflatoxin contaminated milk. Aflatoxin consumed by dairy
cattle was discovered to be as a result of toxic metabolite in milk which in turn caused
the Turkey X Disease (Sargeant, 1961). The major concern of the US Food and Drug
Administration was because aflatoxine is a potential cause of cancer and that it was
readily found in the warm and humid climates of southern US. Research by US Food
and Drug Administration discovered the several forms of aflatoxin with the common
ones being B1, B2, and G1 and G2. They discovered that B1 type of aflatoxin was the
most prevalent and most toxic compared to the other forms of aflatoxins.
From the research done by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
aflatoxin was found to occur in 20% of all the corn grown in the southern US (Shotwei,
1991). Aflatoxin was not discovered in the Midwest region of US and this was attributed
to the extreme climate experienced in the region in 1988-89. The research also
discovered that aflatoxin occurred commonly in corn, cottonseeds and peanuts although
instances of aflatoxin were reported in other feedstuffs (Wood, 1992).
Aflatoxin was discovered to impair the health of dairy animals causing a drastic
decline in their milk production. According to FDA, all levels of aflatoxin concentration
are dangerous and are determined by the level of the toxin in the diet of the animal, the
duration of exposure of the animal to the toxin and the amount of stress affecting the
animal. CAST (1998) claimed that levels of 300 to 700ppb of aflatoxin should be
considered toxic for beef cattle. Guthrie (1968) showed that the reproductive efficiency
in dairy cattle would decline if lactating cattle consumed 120ppb of aflatoxin. He
continued that milk production would increase by 25% if a once affected cow is fed an
aflatoxin free diet.
A research contacted by Applebaum (1982) showed that milk production was
main reduced by impure aflatoxin which is produced by culture other than pure aflatoxin.
Naturally contaminated feeds have also been discovered to be more toxic than assayed
mycotoxins. Van Egmond on the other hand discovered that aflatoxic contaminated
cottonseed meals produced a more percentage of aflatoxin concentration in milk than
contaminated corn meals. This therefore shows that aflatoxin transfer to milk is not
affected by the concentration of the feed but the type of feed given to the dairy cattle.
For instance, the concentration of M1 type of aflatoxin in milk was produced by 1.51%b
of the concentration of aflatoxin B1 in the diet of the animal.
A research contacted by the United State General Accounting Office (GAO,
1991) showed that industries, federals and state programs were effective in detecting
and controlling the effects of aflatoxins. However, they were not certain that additional
programmes would reduce the chances of food supplied being contaminated with
aflatoxin. A surveillance programme done in the US with the aim of reducing food
residues made it very unlikely for the levels of aflatoxin to be consumed at high levels.
Parts of US with active programs had low chances of aflatoxin to be consumed for long
durations and to have health effects on dairy animals.
According to Akande (2006), mycotoxins are chemical substances produced by a
wide range of fungi. There are more than hundred types of mycotoxins produced by
aspergillus, penicillium and fusarium genera (Akande, 2006). The effects of mycotoxins
have been found to develop at the several stages of crop production ranging from
harvesting and transportation to storage of the agricultural produce.
Mycotoxins concentration levels are sometimes at higher levels leading to major
losses in performance and health of animals. It has been widely agreed across the
world and by majority of the scholars that the many forms of mycotoxins are prevalent in
feedstuffs and that there effects on dairy cattle are diverse.
According a report by CAST in 1989, approximately 25% of crops in the world
were affected by mycotoxins translating to billions of dollars being lost by farmers all
over the world (Trial, 1995).In the United States of America, mycotoxins are estimated
to cost an average of $ 1.4 billion per annum. These economic losses have largely been
caused by the effects of mycotoxins on livestock and crop productivity as well as on
regulatory programs directed towards mycotoxins. Unstable concentrations of
mycotoxins have been found in sample feeds(Whitlow 1998).Various researches have
revealed that concentration of mycotoxins is highly dependent and varies with relation
to weather conditions and plant stresses(Coulombe,1993).
The trichothecenes category of mycotoxins which comprises of a greater number
of molecules has been suspected to be the major cause of the black tongue disease in
poultry production as reported by field veterinarians in the American
continents(Gonzalez 2001).Type-A trichothecenes group of mycotoxins has been
identified as the most toxic of the trichothecenes and mainly comprises of among others
T-2 toxin and 15-diacetoxyscirpenol(DAS).The effects of DAS on growing chickens were
studied by Diaz in 2002 from which he concluded that these toxic substances caused
necrotic lesions on the tongues of the chickens particularly at the 1.0 nad 2.0mg/kg
inclusion rate. However, the effects of these two highly toxic substances in laying hens
was found not to be identical to those discovered in young chicks (Diaz et al 1994).In a
bid to reduce the toxic levels of these substances in chicks and their effects in poultry
production, Diaz (2002) found out that Biomin Mycofix at a higher rate of inclusion
reduced these effects on the growth rate of the chicks.
Moulds used to produce mycotoxins have been said to reduce animal
productivity and health. Some of the mycotoxic mould induced symptoms in animals
include lung, liver or kidney damage, weak immune function, digestive upset and poor
feeding conditions. Abortions and reproductive problems in animals have also been
associated with the inclusion of moulds in mycotoxins in animal feeds. Three to ten
percent of miscarriages in dairy animals have been attributed to high mycotic infections.
This is caused by the entrance of toxic moldy feeds in the bloodstream and the uterus of
pregnant animals.
Additionally, some scholars have argued that toxic elements from moldy feeds
cause infertility and abortions in animals throughout their entrance into the placenta.
Aspergillus fumigates has been widely identified as the agent causing myotic
hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) in dairy cattle(Puntenney 2003).Kehrli
(1998),argues that dairy cows in early lactation are the most highly suppressed group
capable of being infected with HBS. Fungal pathogens such as Aspergillus fumigatus
known to cause myotic pneumonia. According to cole (1977), mastitis is common to
most animal fed with mainly hay and silage which are contaminated with
mycotoxins(Cole et al 1977).In relation to this, cattle consuming silage containing
fumigatus demonstrated symptoms such as general deterioration due to deficiency in
proteins, malnutrition, diarrhea, abnormal behavior and occasional death.
Mycotoxins and Dairy Cattle
There has been a diversity of views concerning the tolerance and vulnerability of
dairy cattle towards mycotoxins. Some schools of thought argue that the increased
microbial population in dairy animals is cable of metabolizing most of the mycotoxins
thus reducing their effects in these dairy animals.However, other scholars such as Diaz
(2005),argue that ruminants have little protection against some of the toxins in
mycotoxins. AFB1 has been widely identified as the form of Aflatoxin with the most
significance effects to the dairy industry because very little of it is degraded by rumen
and Jouany Diaz concludes that ruminants have little protection against this toxin. AFB1
and AFM1 (metabolite) are found in feeds and milk, respectively. Dairy cattle will
produce milk contaminated with AFM1 after consuming feeds contaminated with
AFB1with the average transfer between these two toxic substances standing at 1.7%
according to Diaz (2005) greater levels of AFM1 can be detected in milk in a period of
less than four hours after placing 13mg AFB1 into the rumen of a dairy cow. According
to Whitlow (2005) AFM1 may take five to seven days to clear from the milk with a direct
relation on the amount and duration of the AFB1 consumption.
Contradicting results have been established in studies regarding the stability of
AFM in milk during storage periods. This contradiction has been due to the varied
methods used in processing milks before storage. According to stoloff (1975), FDA
indicated in report from the U.S that AFM1 levels remained stable for up to eighteen
days of storage in pasteurized milk and 120 days for milk frozen at -180c.other studies
on the same have provided different and varying results. The effects of afflatoxins in
milk is not only confined to the presence of AFM1 but also to the reduction of milk
production in dairy animals fed with afflatoxin contaminated feeds (Applebaum, 1981).
Other Mycotoxins in Milk
Tight regulations have not been employed in controlling other mycotoxins as has been
the case with AFM1 in milk despite some of them being capable of being transferred
into milk (Robinson, 1979). T-2 toxin samples were detected in milk tests studies carried
out to pregnant cows over a given range of times.
Deoxynivalenol (DON) failed to be detected in studies carried out under the same
conditions as those involving. Effects of T-2 in cattle have not been widely established
though it has been associated with gastroenteritis, intestinal hemorrhage and death in
dairy animals (Petrie, 1977) .Additionally T-2 toxins Leeds to feed refusal and
gastrointestinal lesions in dairy cows has also been associated with T-2 type of
mycotoxins( Weaver,1980). Studies on the effects of DON on milk production and milk
composition showed no conclusive results when it was carried out on lactating Holsteins
(Noller, 1979). However, clinical data in some cases has shown an association between
DON and poor performance in dairy cattle (Whitlow, 1994).
Zearalenone is a mycotoxic substance produced by fasarium and occurs mainly
in silage, oat and hay. It is found in many areas of the word with its occurrence
depending on seasonal changes of the weather. A research contacted by Safarza
(2006) indicates that zearalenone elicits an estrogenic effect that causes abortion in
cattle, virginal secretion and enlargement of the mammary glands of dairy cattle.
Feeding a dairy cow with diets contaminated with more than 660ppb concentration of
zearalenone was found to result to poor consumption, reduced milk production and
increases the chances of the reproductive tract of being infected by diseases (Coppock,
1990).
In some cases, the consumption of mycrotoxic contaminated feeds by animals
may be inevitable in dairy production. However, this causes a wide range of harmful
effects in animals and threatens the consumption of dairy products by humans. These
effects can be controlled by the formulation and implementation of laws to limit the
levels of mycotoxins in dairy products.
Control measures by specific world governments.
Pakistan:
Livestock production in Pakistan is a major contributor to the national economy
with a large percentage of the country’s population relying on it for food. It is estimated
that dairy products in Pakistan contribute up to 46% of the country’s gross domestic
production. Livestock is used to boost the economy of the poor especially in the rural
areas. However, livestock production has been affected by naturally occurring toxins
which contaminate animal feeds, extreme climate and low quality feeds. Microbes and
bacteria have been accused invading animal feeds in Pakistan and producing toxic
compounds which are dangerous to the health of the animals.
The focus on bacteria and viral diseases in past investigations has left the study
of mycotoxins in Pakistan in exhausted. The fact that ruminants are relatively tolerant to
effects of mycotoxins due to the ability of their rumens to detoxify the mycotoxins has
also made researchers to ignore the study of mycotoxins in Pakistan. A research
contacted by Kiessling in 2008 indicated that some rumen metabolites are more toxic
than the mycotoxins themselves. It was also found that mycotoxins have the effect of
impairing the functioning of the rumen by exerting antimicrobial effects on it.
Gremmels (2008) also discovered that the increased passage of feed through the
rumen hindered it from completely denaturing the toxins (gremmels, 2008).Regular
inspection of animals’ feeds and analysis of their ingredients has been employed by the
government of Pakistan as a strategy to control mycotoxines. This has helped greatly in
the reduction of economic loss to dairy farmers as a result of mycotoxins.
Mycotoxins regulations have been established in a large number of countries in
the world despite the many difficulties involved in the recent past. International enquiries
on existing legislation on mycotoxins in foodstuffs have consequently been published in
the world. A comprehensive overview on world wide mycotoxins’ regulations were
published by the Food and Agricultural Organization FAO in 1977 as the FAO food and
Nutrition paper no 64.two categories of regulations existed at the time with some
countries adopting general provisions while others enacted specific regulations.
In the United States of America, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) set out
level limits for Aflatoxin in feed ingredients in order to control the amount of AFB1 in
animal feeds. This is aimed at reducing toxins in animal products such as meet and
milk. This level is set out at a maximum level of 20 ppb for chicks, pigs and dairy feeds
in the United States. In other countries such as those in the European Union, the
maximum level is 0.05 ppb whereas in China, Japan, Mexico and Thailand the level is
set at 0.5ppb.
In recent times, many countries in the world have enacted rules and regulations
concerning mycotoxins in the feed industry. The problem of regulations in mycotoxins
has widely been involving international bodies involving various techniques such as high
performance liquid techniques. In Europe, the European committee for Standardization
has been very critical in setting the standards for mycotoxins ananlysis.despite these
integrated efforts to regulate mycotoxins standards in the world, most of the studies and
debate relating to the use of mycotoxins in animal feeds has been shaped and driven
mainly by the politics and culture of most of the player states in the world.
Mycotoxin in Cyprus
Mycotoxin became an issue of concern after Cyprus joined the UN in 2004, when
a survey program was established to evaluate the effects of animal feeds poisoning.
During this survey, feed samples from animal production sites were analyzed using
liquid chromatography. The results of this survey indicated that a total of 1838 samples
out of 3231 were contaminated with mycotoxin. It also came out that DON was the most
common feed contaminant owing to its frequent occurrences in the tested samples. The
commodities mostly affected by this feed contaminant were cereals, especially in their
stores.
Current researches indicate an increasing rate of animals feeds contaminations
with mycotoxin in Cyprus. In 2004, the percentage of all animal’s feeds contaminated
with mycotoxin was reported to be 59%, while in 2005 it was 79%. The highest levels of
mycotoxin contamination in Cyprus were recorded in 2006 as90%. This gave an
explanation to the poor livestock performance and many animals diseases reported in
2006. Aflatoxin, although most popular in cereals, was not discovered during this
survey. It was concluded that multiplicity of mycotoxin in animal feeds mattered most
compared to the levels of concentration of a single toxin.
A report by the Cyprus department of agriculture indicated that poor livestock
production in commercial farms was as a result of the occurrence of a number of
mycotoxin in animals feeds. The department recommended for pre-and post harvest
treatment of foods by chemicals or through biological means. Among these methods,
prevention of mycotoxin in the field was the most preferred because it was supported by
crop rotation and the use of fungicides.
On the 25th of august 2008, the agriculture ministry of Cyprus announced that
they were keeping an eye on dairy and sheep farms after aflatoxin M1 which is
associated with causing cancer was found in milk. The major fear of the agricultural
ministry was that the aflatoxin outbreak would frustrate the efforts of dairy farmers. In
assuring safety to the public, the veterinary service and Cyprus milk industry
organization said that they were working together to control the spread of the toxin.
Confirming the seriousness of the government in containing aflatoxin, Michalis
Polynikis, the agricultural minister launched inspections of all dairy farms in Cyprus.
According to dairy specialists in Cyprus, aflatoxin is common in Cyprus due to
high heat levels and humidity, conditions which favor the multiplying of aflatoxin. This
led to all farms being placed under strict surveillance together with the dairy
manufacturers from where milk from the farms is manufactured. Milk found with levels of
aflatoxin M1 higher than the minimum recommended levels was supposed to be
destroyed. This was because aflatoxin M1 is can cause cancer to a consumer of milk
contaminated with the toxin.
The increased incidences of mycotoxin in Cyprus were associated with the
importation of cereals from other nations. For instance, a 6600 tones shipment imported
by AGS Agro trading Ltd from Ukraine was reported to be fully contaminated with
aflatoxin M1. This forced the Cyprian government to restrict her citizens from importing
cereals from the Ukraine. Legislations have also been put in place to ensure that all
food stuffs imported from other nations are thoroughly inspected to clear them from
mycotoxin. A research done by the ministry of agriculture also confirmed that aflatoxin
M1 is the hydroxylated metabolite of aflatoxin B1 and was common to milk from animals
fed with feeds contaminated with mycotoxin.
Controlling Mycotoxins and reducing risks.
Afflatoxin:
Afflatoxins, a group of structurally related secondary metabolites are commonly
found in cereals, nuts and animal feeds. Afflatoxins have been attributed with
significance threats to the feed industry and animal production. Since early 1960s
scientist have tried to come up with several strategies to avoid and reduce the harmful
effects of aflatoxins in animal feed. However, it is worth noting that these efforts have
not been widely employed during the contamination pre/post harvest or during storage
periods. A series of bacteria have been reported to detoxify aflatoxins. EL-Nenzami
(2000) has identified lactic acid bacteria as one of such aflatoxins detoxitants.
Nocardia corynebacterioides (Castaneda, 2008), Rhodococcus erythropolis (Hormisch,
2004), Mycobacterium fluoranthenivorans (Alberts, 2006), Bacillus licheniformis
(Petchkongkaew, 2008), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (Guan, 2008), Myxococcus
fulvus (Guan, 2010) have also been identified by these respective scholars as possible
in detoxifying aflatoxins. Some scholars have also identified detoxicating enzymes of
aflatoxins. These include among other enzymes laccase, anti-oxidative stress enzymes
among others from microorganisms (Albert, 2009).
The use of enzymatic substances to detoxify mycotoxins in contaminated feeds
has been received varied appraisal as well as criticism.Karlovsky (1999) argues that
these enzymes have such advantages as mild reaction conditions, efficiency as well as
being environmentally friendly. On the other hand, these microbial strategies have not
provided clear structures and toxicity levels of the detoxified products thus denting their
credibility.
It has not been practically possible to completely eliminate the use of AFB1
contaminated feed ingredients but there exists documented efforts to control the toxin
and consequently reduce the concentration of AFM1 in milk. According to CAST (2003),
ozonization and ammoniation can be employed in treating AFB1 contaminated
feedstuffs. However, doubts have been raised concerning the viability of these methods
as a result of the time needed and high financial budgets needed to carry them out. On
the other, hand, some countries such as the U.S do not allow ammonia for interstate
shipments. Huwing (2001), suggest a different strategy of using adsorbent materials in
feeds in feeds to prevent toxin absorption by dairy cattle.
There have been wide difficulties in establishing the levels of safety as has been
the case with the diagnosis process involving mycotoxins. this problem of determining
the safety levels of mycotoxins inclusion has consequently been made difficult by the
lack of extensive researches in concerning this as well as the sensitivity variations
among different animal species, lack of precision in sampling as well as the large
number of potential mycotoxins (Hamilton,1984).
Climate change and mycotoxin occurrence
Mycotoxins in animal feeds have not been evaded by the critical issue of global
warming and food security issues in the world. Higher temperatures and humidity
increases fungi infections in crops and consequently increasing the probability of
mycotoxin occurrence. This is due to the fact that the performance of fungi is highly
influenced by climate changes. Boutrif (2010) argues that temperature increases leads
to changes in the competence of certain fungi and with it a new form of fungal mutation
and possibly a different worldwide pattern of mycotoxin.
The effects of climatic changes and the performance of different mycotoxins
producing plants as well as other human and animal feeds have of late raised a debate
on mycotoxins in the world today. Fears of food shortage due to poor climatic conditions
may lead to the increased use of unsafe mycotoxin contaminated feed and food further
worsening the food security conditions in the world. Despite all these uncertainties
avoiding feeding mycotoxin-contaminated feedstuffs to animal is vital due tot heir
impacts on the health and performance of animal.
Mycotoxins can increase the incidence of disease and reduce production
efficiency in cattle (Coulmbe,1993).They have been identified as the primary agent
causing acute health or production problems in dairy herd as well as contributing to
such problems as higher incidences of diseases and poor reproductive performance
(Hamilton,1984).
According to Coulmbe (1993), these effects are made possible through four
different mechanisms which are: feeding levels, nutrients absorption, malfunctioning in
the endocrine and exocrine systems and finally the suppression of the immune system.
The impact of mycotoxins in animal production has not been helped by the difficulty
process of diagnosis involved in this study. Scheiffer (1990) agrees that the symptoms
associated with mycotoxins are too diverse and confusing thus making diagnosis
equally difficult. However despite these difficulties and the lack of extensive research in
this field some basic points concerning mycotoxins and their effects on dairy animals
and products have been raised by Schiefer .He added that the issue of mycotoxins
being considered as a possible cause of reduced production rate in animals shouldn’t
be ignored.
In the United States of America the FDA limits aflatoxin to no more than 20 ppb
in lactating dairy feeds and to 0.5 ppb in milk. Cows in consumption of 30ppb aflatoxin
have been identified as producing milk containing aflatoxin levels higher than those
fixed by the FDA. According to Diaz (2004), aflatoxin appears in the milk rapidly and
disappears within a range of three to four days. According to Diekman (1992), aflatoxin
has diverse effects in dairy cattle. On the other hand, consumption of 120 ppb aflatoxin
by lactating dairy cattle lowered reproductive efficiency while a change of diet for the
same group of cattle increased milk production by 25% (Guthrie 1979).some scholars
such as Applebaum et al 1962 have also showed that milk production was minimal in
cows consuming impure Aflatoxin.
Researches have shown that naturally induced mycotoxins in animal feeds are
more toxic than equal levels of pure mycotoxins supplemented into clean diets
(Applebaum 1992).the same trend has been identified in other types of mycotoxins such
as deoxynivalenol (DON).
In the year 2003,CAST established surveillance of feeds for mycotoxins presence and
quantity; assessment of control methods for treatment and prevention ,development of
resistant plants a swell as an improved understanding of the effects of mycotoxins on
animals and finally on the assessment of the economic effects of mycotoxins as area
needing much research and study in the world.
A research conducted by the Dutch Dairy Association (NZO) with the aim of
analyzing the production of milk in the Netherlands discovered that animal feeds were
the major cause of mycotoxins. This commission led by Dr.Frank Driehuis carried a
comprehensive survey of animal feeds used at different dairy farms and calculated the
rates of transfer of mycotoxins from the animal feeds to milk. In this research, methods
of analysis able to measure about 20 types of mycotoxins in a single analysis were
used. NZO educates dairy farmers on how to control mycotoxins in their farms in order
to avoid losses and to reduce the risk of consuming dairy products by consumers.
In the UK, it was discovered that most mycotoxins were mainly caused by
moulds in cereal grains especially in their storage. This has forced the Malting industry
to develop safety systems for their raw materials and finished products against mould
infections. Among the strategies they have adopted is the drying of harvested grains
around 12% moisture before storing them in order to avoid molding. The UKs HGCA
Grain Storage Guide (second edition) gives guidelines on how to dry and store malting
barley in order to minimize the chances of it being contaminated with mycotoxins. From
a research contacted by MAGB the levels of mycotoxin in UK malts has been dropping
drastically and efforts have been put in place to ensure that the trade continues.
The England law and regulation on Feeding Stuff (2005) sets a maximum
permitted level (MPLs) for all animal feeds to minimize the dangers of exposing cattle to
mycotoxins. For instance, this law sets the level of aflatoxin B1 mycotoxin very low
given that it is carsinogenic.
In 1998, a research contacted by Macdonald reported that mycotixin contamination of
cereals was frequent in areas infested by a certain pathogenic fungi and symnbiotic
endophytes. It discovered that most cases of mycontoxin contaminations occurred in
grain stores due to suitable climates for spoilage fingi.
These suitable climatic conditions favoring the infection of animal feeds with
mycotoxins were indentified as moisture and medium temperatures. Macdonald (1998)
categorized these mycotoxin causing fungi as plant-pathogenic and storage organisms.
Among the plant-pathogenic fungi are claviceps, fusarium and alternaria fungi. Storage
fungi on the other hand include aspergium and penicilium organisms.
A further classification of mycotoxin causing fungi done by Macdonald (1998)
was based on geographical prevalence mainly influenced by various climatic
requirements by different types of fungi. Under this categorization, aspirgillus flavus and
parasiticus were associated with those areas with warm and humid climatic conditions
while penicillium expansum was prevalent in cold areas. In this regard, the aspergillus
mycotoxin is expected to be more in plant products coming from the tropics were the
climate is generally warm. Penicillium mycotoxin on the other hand would be prevalent
in temperate foods, especially cereals especially from warm regions.
In November 2010, the UK government set up a surveillance programme for mycotoxins
in foods with its major interest being in cereals and cereal products.
This programme was named a food surveillance information sheet (FSIS) and
was mandated to investigate the degree of contamination of cereals in the UK market
by mycotoxins. Among the cereals investigated by this surveillance programme include
wheat, maize, oats and barley products. This programme covered a number of
mycotoxins including aflatoxin, Ochratoxin A. (OTA), fumonisins and zearalenone
(ZON). The records of this survey indicate that levels of mycotoxins were low in a
majority of the cereals sampled with only 3% contaminated with levels of mycotoxins
above the recommended limits. From these findings, it was the role of the Food
Standards Agency to take action in ensuring consumer protection by removing the
infested products from the market. It was concluded that there was no threat of
mycotoxins in the UK by 2010 as evidenced by the small percentage of cereals
contaminated by mycotoxins from the survey.
A tolerant daily intake (TDI) has been established to protect consumer from over
exposure to mycotoxins. This are estimated quantities of of mycotoxins that an
individual can be exposed to daily without posing risk to his or her health . The
European legislation has (EC) No.1881/2006 ensures that all food businesses adhere to
the limits of mycotoxins in order to protect the consumer from harmful exposure to
mycotoxins.
It is the duty of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to ensure that levels of
mycotoxins in cereals are reduced and to guide the sampling process in order to ensure
the safety of consumers. This agency also informs stakeholders of any developments
by commissioning research on the area of mycotoxins. For example, the commission is
currently caring out a research on the effects of mycotoxins in oat which supposed to
give a report by 2012. The main objectives of the Food Standards Agency are to ensure
safety precautions on food consumption are followed, to inform international
organizations on occurrence of mycotoxins in foods and to identify areas requiring
attention concerning mycotoxins and other food contaminators. The survey was started
in 2007 to put regulatory limits for Fusarium mycotoxins in cereals and cereal products
in the UK markets.
The 2010 World Mycotoxin Forum held in the Netherlands reported that
mycotoxin was a major threat to animals’ health especially in poor countries. After
analyzing the rates of spread of mycotoxins in the world, the experts concluded that
mycotoxins are ignored in most parts of the world, with only the rich countries taking
control measures. From this forum, it was also discovered that even feeding animals
with feeds containing low levels of toxins could affect the animals’ health. During the
2010 World Mycotoxin forum, much attention was given to the 2010 growing season
which was greatly affected by weather changes. This weather changes had brought
fears to many farmers that the current crops would be highly affected by moulds and
end up being contaminated with mycotoxins.
A major challenge as discovered by this forum on the estimation of the levels of
mycotoxins was that some mycotoxins bind with other feed materials such as glucose.
In such a case, it would be very difficult to detect the exact level of mycotoxin
contamination and this will lead to underestimation of the real levels of mycotoxins. This
explains the reason why feeds with low levels of detected mycotoxins still pose a health
danger to animals.
Prevention and control of mycotoxins
According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), it is estimated that
25% of all crops produced in the world are contaminated with mycotoxins. This raises
the need to control and prevent the spread of mycotoxins in order to have food security
in the world. A major contaminant of animal feeds is the fungi thus controlling the
conditions that favor the growth of fungi will in turn reduce the production of mycotoxins.
The Food and Agricultural Organization recommends prevention of mycotoxins to be
implemented before harvesting. This can be done by ensuring that crop residues are
properly managed, planting seeds with a high resistance to mycotoxins and using the
correct type of fertilizer that will prevent insects and fungi from affecting the crops. It
also recommended the harvesting of crops at the right time and in good conditions to
ensure that damaged and spoiled grains ate not stored together with whole seeds.
Moist seeds should be separated from dry ones should be dried completely
before they are stored to avoid moulds. The temperatures in the store should be
moderate and humid to discourage the multiplication of fungi. Farmers were also
advised to use effective mould inhibitors and to ensure that the store for their harvest is
insects and rodents free in order ton prevent mycotoxins.
The major challenge of removing mycotoxins from products as reported by the
Food and Agricultural Organization is that most of the methods are very expensive and
will generate high losses. The process of removing mycotoxins from animal feeds was
also associated with reducing the nutritional value of the feeds. For instance, treating
agricultural produces with ammonia in order to remove aflatoxin and reduce the levels
of fumonisins was discovered by the Food and Agricultural Organization as having the
effect of reducing the nutritional value of the agricultural products.
Mycotoxin binders, which are the use of hydrated sodium calcium
aluminosilicates (HSCAS) with high affinity for aflatoxin B1, has been very useful in the
control of mycotoxins. According to Sarr (1990), the stability of aflatoxin-HSCAS
complexes up to 47degrees and over a wide rage of PH increases the efficiency of
mycotoxin binders. HSCAS has also been discovered to prevent aflatoxins in several
species including chickens, goats and cows. Its only limitation is that its efficacy is
partial against Zearalenone and cannot be used to control mycotoxins from the
trichothecenes group (Sarr, 1990).
Activated carbon has also been used to control the spread of mycotoxins
especially fumonisin b1 and ochratoxin (Solfrizzo, 2001). However, activated carbon
was found to bind with dietary components reducing the nutrition composition of
animals’ feeds. Another research done by Ramos (1996) concluded that resin, a
cholestyramine used to reduce cholesterol in blood, could also be used to control
mycotoxins. This was because of the ability of resin to bind zearalenone and its positive
effects against fumonisins. However, it is not economical to use resin in the control of
mycotoxins because of its large quantities required (Ramos, 1996).
Saccharomyces cerevisiae as discovered by Stanly (1993) is another mycotoxin
binder that can be used to control the spread of aflatoxin because its cell wall readily
bids with the mycotoxins. Once used in broilers, Yiannikouris (2004) discovered that
saccharomyces had the effect of reducing the chances of ochratoxin to impair food
intake and feed conversion. The limitations of binding mycotoxins led ton the
introduction of biotransformation of mycotoxins as a controlling strategy.
This strategy has been designed to use live micro-organisms and has produced
excellent results. For instance, Shima (1997) discovered a bacteria that transformed
deoxynivalenol into a non-toxic compound which he gave the name 3-Ketodeoxynivalenol. According to him, this biotransformation was caused by an enzyme
excreted by the organism.
Another research contacted by Volkl (2004) indicated that a combination of
micro-organisms would transform deoxynivalenol into products that would easily be
separated. In this case, an extracellular enzyme would be required to produce among
the chromatologically separable products, 3-keto-deoxynivalenol.
Stoev (2000) described mycotoxins as silent killers because of their effects on
animals’ health and the fact that no levels of mycotoxins can be considered safe. The
major challenge of mycotoxins is that they are routinely consumed by animals and this
has resulted decline in productivity of the animals. Stoev (2000) described mycotoxins
as silent killers because in most cases it is difficult to diagnose their effects on the
animals. Mycotoxins according to Stoev (2000) reduce the immune systems of animals
without the knowledge of the farmers and this may lead to death of the animal without
before the farmer diagnoses its problems (Stoev, 2000).
Body (2000) on the other hand claimed that the feeding animals with feeds
contaminated with low levels of mycotoxins daily would make the animal susceptible to
bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases. In such a case therefore, the farmer will be forced
to increase therapeutic intervention in order to boost the immune of the animals and this
will in turn increase the cost of raising the animals (Body, 2000).
To demonstrate this, an experiment carried out by Stoev (2000) indicated that
feeding pigs with feeds contaminated with ochratoxin A (OTA) would make them more
prone to infectious diseases. This is because of increased levels of salmonellosis in the
bodies of the pigs. Stoev (2000) further demonstrated that vaccinating animals against
S.cholerarsuis hemorrhagic diarrhea would lead to an increase of serpulina
hyodysenteriae due to mycotoxic contamination (Stoev, 2000).
Surai (2002) discovered that exposure of animals to mycotoxins will lead to
induction of cellular oxidative stress. This is caused by an increase in the production of
oxygen and hydrogen radicals which as a result depletes the defense mechanisms of
cells. The cellular oxidative stress will enhance the production of lipid peroxide and
cause cellar necrosis. Another effect of mycotoxins according to Surai(2002) is that they
affect the transportation of vitamins and this encourages lipid peroxidation, hinder the
functioning of many cells and eventually lead to death of cells (Surai,2002).
When mycotoxins are incorporated into the membrane structure of wells, they
cause peroxidation of long chains of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) which are very
dangerous to the health of the animals. However, Surai(2006) was not certain whether
mycotoxins were responsible for stimulating lipid peroxidation directly or it lead to
increased tissue susceptibility to lipids peroxidation as a result of compromised
antioxidant system(Surai,2002).
According to Binder (2006), there are no safe levels of mycotoxins in animal
feeds although nit is difficult to get feeds that are totally free from contaminations with
mycotoxins. The major challenge to farmers according to Binde (2006) is to prevent the
production of mycotoxins before harvest of agricultural produce, in storage and during
food processing. Alternatively, Binder advices farmers to use feed additives that can
absorb and moisture from the harvested produce, or use enzymes to reduce the
multiplication of mycotoxins in feeds.
Methodology
In order to test the hypothesis of the study, its necessary to conduct a primary
research to give a guideline on whether to approve or disapprove the secondary
research that has been conducted in the area. The research can be said to be a
controlled, empirical and critical investigation of the hypothetical propositions about the
presumed relationships among the phenomena. The research who carries out a
research to test its hypothesis or theory is influences by the experience he posses.
It’s on this basis the researcher is required to have all the requirements to carry
out this research. The experience of the researcher could be first hand or could be
secondary through the experience the researcher has acquired either through the
interaction with other people with the knowledge regarding the topic or through
accessing information from other people who ever conducted this kind of research
previously. It’s clear that, the knowledge and the experience the researcher gets from
other sources could bias the research and the researcher must be as subjective as
possible to ensure the previous experience does not influence the research in anyway.
The means by which the researcher may set out to achieve the goals may depend on
the three categories, Reasoning, Experience and Research. The role of the research
undertaken is to address the marketing strategies between international hotels and
regional chain hotels in Singapore. In order to understand the theory of this research,
it’s necessary to understand how these strategies are being used and deal with
mycotoxins in dairy products. In this regard, the research will look to both positive and
negative attributes of the research topic.
In order to understand how the research process was undertaken, am going to
use the Research process Onion. Having the defined the research question (theory)
and the research design (hypothesis) for the study, the next step is to discuss the
research in a detailed manner. The research philosophy, the research strategies and
the approaches used.
Source: Saunders et al, Research Methods for Business Students, Prentice-Hall (2003)
Concepts under study
In order to have a clear and complete research on the problem under the study,
there is a dire need to have a full understanding of the actual problem under the topic of
study. The study is also to analyze the effectiveness of the strategies that are being
used to deal with mycotoxins in dairy products. Different countries have different
research strategies and solutions that can be used to deal with mycotoxins in the dairy
products
The topic of the research is bold and wide and needs time, dedication and also
clear understanding of the topic because it requires analyzing of the entire problem that
have been posing a big a problem to many countries. To ensure that the topic and the
problem have been addressed fully, there need to have a better method of data
collection that will ensure that the results achieved are valid and applicable.
Paradigm used in this study
The paradigm will provide a conceptual framework that will enable to see and
view the subject from a given perspective. The main aim of the paradigm is to help the
reader understand the perspective of the study in order to establish the main reason a
given research method has been adopted. The paradigm will establish the values and
techniques that have been used to partake this particular study.
The importance of this paradigm is that it will shape how this study will be
perceived and how it will be reinforced by the external research environment of the
subject, that is, how other factors are involved in tackling the issue of mycotoxins in
dairy animals. Within the research process, believe of the researcher will dictate and
reflect the exact way the research will be designed, how the data collection and analysis
is done and how the results will be presented. Its always important for the researcher to
recognize their paradigm because it will definitely allow them know their role in the
research and will however determine the course of any research project and will also
help in determining other research perspectives that have been adopted.
As has already been explored, the study will comprise human subject because
they are the main customers of these hotels and the advertisements are aimed at them,
traditional research method paradigm is not the best because it might affect the ethics
of the research. The reason why the tradition research paradigm is not perfect for this
research is because it will require some manipulations that may harm the human
subject. In the research, there are some ethical and pragmatic reasons that restrict the
research from variables in the research from being held constant or manipulated in an
experiment.
The study will mainly deal with issues on mycotoxins in dairy products and the
strategies that are being used to handle the this menace and since this problem affects
human who are the consumers of these products, it becomes a primary factor that is
driven by human thus human becoming the center matter of the subject and of
consideration. There are different approaches in the research that will be used and the
research must use the interpretivist research paradigm. This will include an in-depth
interrogation of people to establish the subject and also to ensure that the method used
is trusted in order to know how different countries are handling this problem.
This study will be set and will use the interpretivist paradigm in order to
completely understand how and why different countries are using their respective
strategies.
Qualitative method
The steps that are used by the qualitative research are the same as those that
are used by the positivists’ research. The first step is to identify the research topic and
then refine and clarify. In the interpretivist research, the exploration and purpose of the
research is designed to discover what can be learned from the research topic. The
interpretivists view the world as a social context with many and different realities that
are interconnected and are understood as a multiple realities (Anon, 2009).
The qualitative research strategy is characterized by a lower number of the
audiences or sample number as compared as a quantitative research and the sample
that is selected will present the natural population. The best way to use the qualitative
research is through the having a controlled sample to avoid the change in patterns and
also to avoid the change in the accidental sampling with a changing patterns. The
random and uncontrolled sampling is time consuming.
The researcher involvement in the data collection characterizes the approach. The
researcher is the most active member of the research and they often immense
themselves in a setting that is under the study so as to understand the meaning and the
significance of the research.
There are three main methods that are used in the data collection when using the
qualitative research method. These methods include the interviews which are mostly
interactive, the written assumptions and also observations. The interactive interviews
are when people are asked questions verbally and are required to respond to them
when the interviewer is either writing down responses or recording. In this case, people
are required to describe their experiences for a given phenomenon. On the other hand,
the written interviews, people are required participate the interviews through a written
descriptions of their experiences over a given phenomenon while in the observations
require the verbal observations of the behaviors and come up with conclusions.
The main aim of the study is to come up with a detailed and an informed
understanding of the subject under the study through interacting with people. This
means that, the best way to achieve the goal of the research is to interact with people
and conduct a personal interview. Compared to other methods of data collection,
personal interviews are the best and are very important in the qualitative study because
they ensure that the interviewer or the research have the best interactions and with the
subject and will be able to capture the different aspects of the phenomena in the study
that could be on the other hand be omitted by other methods of data collection (Bell,
1999).
There are different methods of interviewing and this particular study will use a
semi-structured study. The semi structured interview will familiarize a set of questions
and will assist the research in focusing on the different aspects of the study or the
phenomena. The other reason why the semi-structured interview has been selected for
this study is because it is flexible and will allow a new set of questions to be brought up
during the interview session in response to what the interviewee says. On the other
hand, the semi structured will bring up a set of themes; there is probability that the
information given by the interviewee will need a deeper understanding of the subject in
order to get the real meaning of the subject. The semi-structured interview in this study
will help in gaining a range of insights on given specific issues. This method is less
intrusive because it is based on two-way communication rather than a formalized
interview. It will provide researcher to get more information about the issues and make it
easy to discuss sensitive issues as well.
Research Philosophy
When beginning to work on the research, the first step was to understand the
general factors which are applicable to the research am doing. Through accessing
different sources, both the primary and secondary data, will help in getting the relevant
information that is helpful and also in acquiring the most appropriate information that will
help in conducting my research. The approach to the research and the way the data
was collected and analyzed is a direct consequence of the way one views about the
world and the lesser extent on the issue that am researching on.
The research philosophy can be described as a way a person thinks about the
development of the knowledge and affects the research approaches, the methodology
as well as the method of data collection. The well understood research philosophy is
important in the clarification of the right design that would be used and how it will be
adjusted to fit the current setting on how the research will be carried.
In this regard, I had to closely look for a method that will not affect any company’s
affairs and also that will not affect any person that is involved in the research. In this
section of the research philosophy, the researchers carefulness will be determined and
the considerations of the factors that may contribute to bias during and after the
research. The research should completely adopt the mixed approach because the
research philosophies are different and also analyzed differently. The researcher should
always be cautious not to have contradictory results especially when the mixed
approach has been used or when the researcher have used both the qualitative and
quantitative methods. In most cases, there are contradictory results if the research was
not careful during the data analyzing process. The positivists detach the interviews from
their social context for this research it is important to view them in their context, to
understand their perceptions. Positivists prefer a highly structured research design
because it restricts the findings into a small extent. The most apparent positivist
paradigm weakness is that is not very useful in understanding the process and
significance of the people who are attached to the research. In this research,
mycotoxins in dairy products, is an important factor that are attached to this particular
topic and the meaning of the meaning that this research requires to be understood in
order to come up with a solid conclusion and in ensuring that there are no philosophical
implications that have occurred. On the other hand, the social constructivists approach
and the complementary qualitative method are suitable in this research because of their
ability to understand people’s meanings and adjust to new issues and understandings
as they emerge (Coghlan and Brannick, 2001).
Research Ethics
Ethical considerations are very important issues to consider when doing a
research. This will include the respecting people, honesty in the research and also in
the academic integrity, explicitly addressed will constitute an ethically responsible
research work. To validate the research, there are several ethical issues that were taken
care of as found in the entire research.
It would only be superficial to consider that the research would be using the
plagiarism free and bias free writing. The committed researcher would be committed to
producing work that is ethically considerate and would address the issues of the
informed content of the participants and also for the organizations under the study and
will ensure confidentiality and anonymity as well as reciprocity.
Since am using a qualitative research, am more sympathetic to the participants’
feelings and perceptions on the study. The research that has observed ethics in all
corners of the research will be termed as a responsible research and will ensure that
the participants will not face any problem or difficulty when participating in the research.
Anonymity is vital when dealing with a sensitive subject as it may bring controversies
between the respondents and the hoteliers especially when the respondent refers to a
specific hotel. In this research, the anonymity of the entire respondents is being
observed and there will be no any mention of the respondents name or anything that
may help in identifying the person.
Reliability and validity of the research
In any research, reliability and validity are very important to consider because
they were used in the selection of the methodology that would be used in the research.
The consistency of the research and purity are the attributes of reliability and on the
other hand, the repeatability and stability are also important aspect of the research
reliability. In a qualitative research, reliability is given a priority and is very important in
this research. The four constructs are same as the constructs of reliability, replicability
and validity which plays a vital role and are also measures of the qualitative research.
Because of the setting change, its difficult to achieve the external reliability in the
qualitative research and would be hard to replicate the entire study and would be hard
to match the study with the research that was previously conducted on the subject. The
external validity will deal with the generalization of the results that will go beyond the
research setting.
If the research that is being conducted has no validity would be useless. To avoid
the efforts that have been put in doing this research futile, the research should be
validated because the most important thing in the research is to have a valid research. A
research that is not valid cannot be relied upon. The validity of the research deals with
the issue of whether the research question that is being researched on is truthful and
honest while on the other hand, the predictive research deals with the forecasting. The
validity of the research is the degree by which the findings are able to present the reality
of the research in an accurate way. The face of the validity on the other hand
determines whether the researcher presented the constructs as they should. In a
research, a number of the hypothetical constructs can be used and the extent by which
the chosen construct is coherent with the findings and whether they are in contrast with
the validity (Bryman, 2001).
Threats to reliability
 In order to ensure that the research is reliable, it is important to understand the
threats that may be face the research. The threats that may face the research may be of
four types including:
 The participant error- The data that may be achieves from the external elements
to the study can affect the data that is achieved from the subject. For example in the
context of employee enthusiasm at work; if a questionnaire is completed by an
employee on Monday morning the researcher may get a very different response to if the
same subject completed the questionnaire on Friday afternoon
 Subject or Participant bias – Subjects of the research may give answers that they
feel are more suited to the research or culturally apt at the time. To eliminate this
researcher should ensure the subject is anonymous and that they are sure of this
feeling. For example an unmarked envelope could be provided for completed
questionnaires to be returned in.
 Observer error – If the research carried out is not wholly quantitative (i.e.
categorized into tick boxes) then the data the researcher receives is open to
interpretation. By structuring the research method this can be avoided.
 Observer Bias – The context, annotations and surroundings that the researcher
experiences when collating their research can also leave the reply open to
interpretation.
Threats to validity
When undertaking a research process it is also necessary to understand validity.
It must be questioned as to whether any two variable are what they appear; or are they
simply a casual relationships? Saunders (2003) acknowledges the potential lack of
validity in the conclusions was minimized by a research design that built in the
opportunity for focus groups after the questionnaire results had been analyzed. Robson
(2002) acknowledged the following threats to validity.
 History – the history of the problem may affect the level of bias as the results.
Testing – If people believe that the research may affect them in an alternative way then
they may bias there results.
 Instrumentation – In certain environments pressure may be upon the subject to act
differently in order to satisfy a third party this leads to bias.
 Mortality - This can affect extended studies.
 Maturation – Over extended research subjects or organizations mature to give
different results.
 Ambiguity and casual direction – This is unclear linking of primary and secondary
data as well as showing raw data. It means the researcher has not shown a direct link
between two variables.
Data Collection and Analysis
As illustrated in the Research Process Onion, within the data collection and
analysis layer there are many methods by which a researcher can obtain their data; as
previously mentioned these different forms of data collection lend themselves to the
research philosophies, approaches and strategies within the outer layer of the process
onion. The methods used by the researcher are affected by all of these layers as well as
the overriding theory of the study. Saunders et al (2003) pp83, recognize observations,
interviews and questionnaires as the key primary data collection methods.
 Observations are used in research topics that are concerned with what
people do. It is the systematic observation, recording, description, analysis and
interpretation of peoples’ behavior. Saunders et al (2003) there are two types of
observation these are participant, which is qualitative and revolves around people and
the consequence of their actions and structured, which is quantitative and revolves
around the repetition / frequency of peoples actions.
 Interviews are purposeful discussions between two or more people Kahn and
Cannell, (1957) they are useful in helping to formulate research questions and
objectives. There are many different types of interviews that have been recognized by
different writers in the area.
 Structured Interviews follow a strict list of questions and topics; there are also
semi-structured interviews which give the interviewer a general framework for the
questions whilst unstructured allow freedom to explore the research topic.
 Meanwhile Healey (1991) and Healey and Rawlinson, (1993, 1994) argue
that there are two types of interview these are standardized, which follows the same
vein as structured interviews and non-standardized which incorporates the ideas of
semi and un-structured interviews.
 Robson (2002), based on the work of Powney and Watts (1987), refers to a
different typology Saunders et al, (2003) this being respondent and informant
interviews. The theory in the case of the informant interview is that the interviewee is
given the opportunity to talk freely about events, behavior and beliefs in relation top the
topic area. Saunders at al (2003) whereby a respondent interview is one where the
interviewer directs the interview and the interviewee responds to the questions of the
researcher. Robson (2002); Saunders et al (2003).
Research Design
The sample size for this study will be 10 people, the procedures here will include
but not limited to the distribution of fliers so as to obtain the participants. The population
was selected in different and varying percentages of male and female and the races of
those who use the same network and those who have shifted to other networks. The
questionnaire will include questions on race, gender and questions that will determine
the perceptions of the life of the networks. The reporting session will obtain the details
of both groups which would have been missed by the questionnaire about their
perceptions which are in-depth of the networks provided by the government and from
the private networks.
To analyze the data regarding the selections that are made on the questions that
will be broken down by severity of cases, to allow for either the rejection or the
confirmation of the hypothesis SPSS software will be used. The independent variable
here will be frequency of the case while the dependent variable will be the current
strategy. Ethical concerns in this research will be addressed by the use of data
concerning effects as the variables. To maintain anonymity and deter the researcher
from skewing the results because of association, no names will be used for any of the
participants. All the participants will be given a number.
There are three main methods that can be used in data collection in a qualitative
study. These include interactive interview, written descriptions, and observation
(Cousin, 2005). Interactive interview takes place when people are verbally asked to
describe their experiences for a given phenomenon. Written descriptions by participants
takes place when people are asked to write descriptions of their experiences for a given
phenomenon while observations mainly include a descriptive observation of verbal or
non-verbal behaviour (Lather, 2006; Torrance, 2005). This study is aimed at getting an
informed understanding of the issue through interaction with individuals. This means
that the best way to get this information will be through conduction of personalized
interviews. In contrast with other method of data collection mentioned above, personal
interviews are important in qualitative study because they ensures that the researcher
has direct contact and interaction with the subjects and hence captures different
aspects of the phenomena under study that may be omitted in the other methods of
data collection (Cohen et al., 2000). There are different methods of interview method
and this study will use semi-structured interview. A semi structured interview has
formalized, limited set of questions that assists the research to focus on different aspect
of the phenomena (Torrance, 2005). The main reason why semi structured interview
has been chosen for this study is because they are flexible and allows new questions to
be brought up during the interview in response to what the interviewee says. Although
the interview in semi structured interview has given sets of theme to explore, new
themes can arise from the information given by the interviewee, which means a deeper
understanding of the subject can be established (Torrance, 2005). Therefore, semi
structured interview in this study will help to gain a range of insights on specific issues.
This method is believed to be less intrusive because it’s based in two ways
communication instead of formalized interviews. In this method, the researcher is able
to get more information and is easier to discuss on sensitive and important issues
(Denzin, 1994).
In any research, reliability, validity and replication are important considerations
and these are as important as it was used in determining the choice of the methodology.
Consistency and purity of a measure are attributes of reliability and on the other hand
repeatability or stability is also an important aspect of reliability. Reliability is given
higher importance in quantitative research. These four constructs are similar to the
constructs reliability, replicability and validity which are measures of quantitative
research (Livingston & Lunt, 1994).
It is difficult to achieve external reliability in qualitative research because the
settings change, and hence it is difficult to replicate the entire study in the same setting
as when researched previously. External validity deals with generalizing the results that
goes beyond the research setting.
It would be useless if the research conducted has no validity. It’s always
important to validate the research to avoid all efforts that are made in doing this
research futile. Any research which is not reliable is not valid. Concurrent validity deals
with the issue of whether the question is truthful and honest and the predictive research
deals with the forecasting. Research validity is a degree by which findings are able to
present the reality in an accurate way. Validity also is concerned with the extent to
which the findings are original. Face validity determines if the constructs used by the
researcher actually represent what they should. A number of hypothetical constructs
could be used in the research, and the extent to which the chosen construct is coherent
with the findings is construct validity (Livingston, & Lunt, 1994).
The research considered qualitative research method to collect data. This is because it
offers three main distinctive method of collecting data including Interactive interviews,
through the written descriptions of the issue under research and the observations of
how mycotoxin have affected dairy products. In the interactive interviews, the
respondents are supposed to tell the effects mycotoxin had on different countries and
the methods that are being used to handle the issue.
In the written descriptions, the study was conducted on different sources relating
to the problem and was all included in the literature review. There were no observations
that were required because this required the feeling and experiences of people in
regard to the problem in question.
So as to achieve a balanced view as much as possible, the interviews were
conducted over the phone and also the gathering of secondary data was very useful in
getting the overall information concerning the problem. When we combine the overall
research, there should be a good view point on regarding the theory backing the
subject. According to the research perspective, the population is the group that is taking
part in the research and in data collection or the group that is being surveyed. Data will
be collected from a relatively small group of people, 10, because of the time frame
available for the research.
When a small group of people have been sampled, a clear and accurate results
can be achieved compared to a large group and since the research is an individual
research, the researches available and time can only support data collection from a
small group. Before conducting my research, I decided to collect my data from different
secondary sources that are well documented, and have taken all considerations to
ensure that there is as little bias as possible and am achieving my survey in as accurate
as possible to ensure that the entire population is presented. My hypothesis and theory
has to be the center of my research. In order to achieve this, I used random sampling
which has probability of getting presentation of all sides of the research.
Research Administration
In order to ensure that this research is reliable, there is a great importance to
understand threats that these research may face. There are four types of threats that
can face the research and they include:
 Participant error-Data that may be got from the external sources and other
elements of study may have a difference with the data that can be achieved
from the subject. An example of this is an employee’s enthusiasms at work,
for instance, if the researcher gets the employee fill in the questionnaire on
Monday morning, he may get a different response compared to if the
questionnaire was given on Monday evening and may be on Friday. The
researcher must be aware of the difference and be prepared to get varied
responses in different days.
 Subject and the participant bias- The subject of the research may attract
answers that are suited to the research at that time and may not be
applicable any other time. To avoid this, the researcher should keep the
subject of the research as anonymous and ask the respondents what they
have in mind and what they feel about a particular question. An example, a
researcher may opt to give the questionnaires in unmarked envelope in
which the questionnaires will be returned in after being filled in.
 Observer error- When a researcher carries out a research that is not wholly
quantitative, for example, may be by providing questionnaire that requires
the respondent to select their answers and use the tick boxes, it opens
chances of data interpretation and this can be avoided by structuring a
research method.
 Observer bias- Other issues that can threaten the reliability of the research,
the context, annotations and environments that surrounds the researcher
during the data collection session may also contribute to the open to
interpretation.
When the research is being undertaken, there is a vital need to understand the
validity of the research during the process and after the research is being completed
and compiled. On the other hand, it is necessary to look into whether there are any two
variables appear to be what they are or are they having a casual relationship or what.
Saunders, (2003), said that the potential in lacking validity in the conclusion of the
research and also through the design that would allow an opportunity to focus on the
groups after analysing the questionnaire results. The following threats to validity have
been acknowledged by Robson, (2002).
 Testing-If there is any believe that the research may have any effect to them in
any way, they may bias the result of the entire research thus compromising the
validity of the research.
 Instrumentation- In some other environments, the pressure on the respondent to
the subject may force him/her act differently in order to satisfy the third party
which may bias the result still leading to compromising the validity of the
research.
 Mortality- Mortality is another thing that can affect the validity of the research. If
some of the respondents die after giving the responses, there would be no back
up of the validity of the research and may also affect the extended studies.
 Maturation- When the research is over extended or an organization, it can
mature to give a different results.
 Ambiguity and casual direction– This can be regarded as unclear link between
the primary and secondary data and raw data as well. On the other hand, it
means that the researcher has not shown the direct link between the two
variables.
Research Methodology Conclusion
In order to gather the primary data to test the theory I decided to use a positivist
approach which allows me to deduce experimental, quantitative data from a cross
sectional population. In order to test my theory I needed to gather facts and opinions
from individuals about three subsidiary topics the individual and their circumstance. I
propose to collect this by a questionnaire which will contain multiple choice questions.
This will allow me to categorize people in the three main topic areas above. From the
prevailing data I will be able to analyze, in graph format, any apparent trends. The
purpose of the study is to analyze mycotoxin issues in dairy products. It therefore lend
itself to a quantitative data collection method. It must be acknowledged that in some of
the question fields other tick boxes with lines for open comment have been used this will
allow a small amount of qualitative data to be used within the analysis. This will
accompany the bulk of my qualitative data which is encompassed in the Literature
Review. It must further be acknowledged that to improve the study a wider range of data
collection techniques infringing on both interpretivism and positivism research
philosophies would give a more accurate, balanced result.
DISCUSSION
Mycotoxin impact on dairy cows
Dairymen work tirelessly to keep their cows healthy and productive. With ever
present of toxic contaminants in feeds is a never ending threat that affects the
productivity of the animal and the quality of the product being produced. Mycotoxins
suppresses the animals immune system and affect the major functioning of major
organs including kidneys, rumen, intestinal tract, liver and reproductive system among
other. This causes the retaining of placenta, ketosis and metrites among other
infections. Mycotoxin reduces the animals responses to challenges and veterinary
treatments. In most cases, and in nearly all cases, animals reduce the production of
milk and other products.
Mycotoxins impacts in dairy cows
Source: http://www.thedairysite.com/articles/1625/mycotoxins-in-dairy-cows-a-menaceto-cows-farmers-and-consumers
Another aspect that should be taken in to consideration is lameness in the dairy farms
which has caused much looses because of the reduced milk production, impaired
reproductive performance and higher costs of veterinary costs. For some animals with
completely developed forestomach-system, the rumen fluid content is essential and
protects the animal from mycotoxins like ochratoxin A, zearalenone, T-2 toxin,
diacetoxyscirpenol and deoxynivalenol. There is a detoxifying barrier with the protozoas
being more active than the bacteria.
In this regard, ruminants are protected against the harmful effects of mycotoxins
due to the action of ruminal microorganisms though the action should be taken into an
account before mycotoxins are disregarded.
Economic Impact
Mycotoxins are serious problem. One should always interpret the problem taking
into account that the problem comes in with some economic impacts. The dynamic
process is present because there are different effects to animal health which affects the
animal production and also requires some financial input to curb the problem.
Source: http://www.thedairysite.com/articles/1625/mycotoxins-in-dairy-cows-a-menaceto-cows-farmers-and-consumers
The presence of mycotoxins in feed can hit animal farmers hard. The importance
of high quality feed is very high because the most hit animals by micotoxins are high
producing dairy cattle. Reduction of mycotoxins in feeds is vital because it reduces
chances of animals getting infected by the mycotoxin.
In order to have my hypothesis assessed completely, mycotoxins in dairy products,
there was some research questions that I required that affected the hypothesis.
These questions are:
 What are the most effective methods of dealing with mycotoixins in dairy
products?
 What are major different courses of mycotoxins?
 What are the different countries that have been hit by the mycotoxin problem?
I will use the research questions to discuss my results and in comparison with my
secondary research in the literature review.
Mycotoxin and associated health risks
Since 1960s, there have many different types of mycotoxins that have been
discovered and been grouped and categorized depending on their structural similarities
as well as their toxic effects. Micotoxins are classified depending on their biological
origin and structure. Their classifications include cyclopeptides, polycetoacids, terpenes
and nitrogenous. In every continent in the world, there are different domination of
mycotoxin, example, in Africa and Asia, aflatoxins are the major toxins, in Australia,
aflatoxins and mycotoxins are the major dominant mycotoxins. In North America, the
dominants are aflatoxins, ochratoxin, zearalenone and vomitoxin. In the Southern
America, the dominant toxins are aflatoxin, ochratoxin, vomitoxin and fumonisins. In the
Eastern Europe, zearalenone and vomitoxin are the major toxins in the area. In Western
Europe, vomitoxin, zearalenone and ochratoxin. With the legalization of the international
trade and relaxed quarantine barriers, there is a great threat that any type of toxin can
be detected in any are. Mycotoxins are spreading fast and might be a global problem
soon. There are several mycotoxins that are found in food and feeds, however, the
positive side of mycotoxin associated diseases are not contagious.
The human health risks that are associated with mycotoxins are brought about by
the consumption of food pro0ducts that are contaminated with mycotoxins. Some of the
mycotoxins are produced before food is harvested while others are produced after the
harvest stages. The main symptoms of mycotoxins include vomiting, diarrhea and other
problems that are associated with gastro-intestinal problems. Like in animals,
mycotoxins are known to suppress human immunity and expose the body to other
opportunist diseases.
Limitations of the Study
Since the cases of the bacteria in question is changing and taking new shape
every day accessibility of the most current information in regard was limited and limited
the research from drawing authenticated conclusion from the data collected. The
research needs time to diverse information that is required to conclude the conclusion.
Time limitation was another critical hindrance especially when collecting data. The
cases of mycotoxins have happened in different countries and it was not possible to
travel in those countries and correct primary data concerning those cases.
The other limitation the study faced was the generalization of the longitudinal
effects. The generalization of the research findings were limited because the data
collected was from fewer than the estimated target. The research design was not aimed
at producing results for less than 20 different cases and more still the time frame given
did not allow more advances to conduct more research in regard to collection of
primary data. Since the data primarily depended on the responses of people, it was
hard to achieve the aspired results due to the fact that, our need for the interview from
experts and researchers responses was not in any one’s schedule and this caused
decline by many to respond to the requests.
Opportunities for Further Research
There is an opportunity of further research. As the problem is taking a new shape
each and every day, there is need to look at the current trends in the cases of
mycotoxins is taking and how different researchers are coming up with different results
and ideas concerning the management of the bacteria.
A detailed investigation is necessary to ensure that there is a better
understanding on the proceeding of the problem under the study. With some
researchers coming up with results that can be depended on in drawing the solution to
this problem while others are depending on the secondary sources to come up with the
conclusions raising more confusions than it would have been expected.
The research depended on the secondary sources which could also have
depended on other sources to draw their conclusions. This raises the need for further
research in order to come up with the most current and updated information concerning
the bacteria. On the other hand, it would need to have a better agreement with the
researchers and have them prepare for interviews prior to conducting it.
It would be better if in future the study is conducted to people who are prepared
and well linked to the issue. This will give a better view and understanding of the subject
under the study.
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