The distribution of toxins between agricultural and industrial countries is different. Seminal plasma seems to be inert against chemicals. In patients with high serum concentrations of DDT and DDE pregnancy rates were impaired.

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During the preparation of cooked foods acrylamide is formed from asparagine and reducing sugars at high temperatures. By-products of oil, starch and sugar production, which may be found in animal feed, partially result from processing steps using heat treatment that are similarly likely to form acrylamide. Possibly, pelletizing during the processing of mixed concentrates may also be involved in acrylamide formation. Thus the occurrence of acrylamide in animal feed and the potential for carry-over into animal products should be tested. Independently of the feed matrix, 1.5 g per day of acrylamide was fed to a cow for ten days resulting in a mean concentration of 175 microg/kg of acrylamide in the milk. From the data obtained the mean carry-over was found to be 0.24%, and a mean half-life time of 2.8 h was estimated. This means acrylamide was rapidly transformed in the cow. The acrylamide concentrations in three commercial mixed concentrates were respectively 180, 145 and 140 microg/kg feed. To test the possible effect of pelletizing, the peripheral zones were separately analysed. No difference in concentration was observed. Based on the carry-over rate estimated in this study, a maximum concentration of approx. 0.2 microg/kg of acrylamide would be expected in milk from cows fed with such feeds.

Fifty samples of soybean meal-25 of them samples of high-protein soybean meal-and one sample of soybean hulls obtained from the feed industry in Germany were analysed for the mycotoxins aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZON) and ochratoxin A (OTA). Additionally, 4 samples of high protein soybean meal which were suspected of containing high mycotoxin levels were analysed. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was detected in 32 of the 51 non-suspicious samples but the maximal concentration was only 0.41 μg/kg. DON could not be detected in any of the non-suspicious samples. ZON was detected in 23 of the 51 samples with a maximal concentration of 18 μg/kg. It was present in 18 of 25 samples of soybean meal and in the sample of soybean hulls but only in 4 of 25 samples of highprotein soybean meal. This finding suggests that ZON is mainly located in the hulls of soybeans, because high-protein meal does not contain hulls. OTA was found in 4 samples, with the greatest concentration detected being 1 μg/kg.All of the four suspicious samples of high protein soybean meal contained high ZON concentrations of up to 363 μg/kg. The contamination with other mycotoxins was on the same order of magnitude as in the case of the non-suspicious samples.

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