The latest dsm-firmenich World Mycotoxin Survey for the first half of 2026 underscores severe, ongoing contamination risks in global feed raw materials and finished feeds. With 85% of tested samples containing multiple mycotoxins, feed millers and livestock nutritionists face increasingly complex formulation and risk mitigation challenges.

Global feed raw materials and finished feeds continue to exhibit high rates of mycotoxin contamination, according to findings from the dsm-firmenich World Mycotoxin Survey covering January to June 2026. Analyzing 10,410 samples across 78 countries through 59,180 individual tests, the report reveals that single-toxin exposure is increasingly rare. Co-contamination remains the dominant operational threat, with 85% of all tested samples containing more than one mycotoxin, while only 11% presented a single toxin and just 4% fell below detection limits.

Regional risk analysis highlights widespread exposure across key agricultural zones. Central and North America experienced extreme overall risk levels, driven by high prevalence rates of Fusarium-derived toxins, including B-trichothecenes, fumonisins, and zearalenone. In Europe, B-trichothecenes dominated across northern, central, and southern regions, with Southern Europe recording fumonisin prevalence in 96% of samples. South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia similarly registered extreme risk levels, with fumonisin detection reaching 93% in East Asia and 87% in China and Taiwan.

Advanced multi-mycotoxin screening using the Spectrum Top 50 method further highlights the prevalence of masked, modified, and emerging mycotoxins that traditional testing routines frequently overlook. Among all analyzed samples, deoxynivalenol led regulated toxin prevalence at 76%, followed by fumonisin B1 at 70% and zearalenone at 64%. Unregulated and emerging metabolites also demonstrated high occurrence rates, led by enniatin B at 70%, beauvericin at 67%, and moniliformin at 57%.

Finished feed evaluations reflected these raw material dynamics, with deoxynivalenol present in 85% of finished feed samples and fumonisin B1 in 84%. Furthermore, ultra-sensitive Spectrum 380 analysis revealed an average of 23 mycotoxins and metabolites per sample, with nine out of ten samples contaminated specifically with Fusarium toxins.

Official data for the study was compiled by dsm-firmenich through its global technical service laboratory network.

Conducted continuously since 2004, the dsm-firmenich World Mycotoxin Survey represents the feed industry’s longest-running global dataset on mycotoxin prevalence, providing key benchmark intelligence for raw material procurement, quality assurance, and feed additive selection.