Over the past several decades, the agtech industry has been focusing on crop-yield enhancement and pesticide-use reduction in anticipation of enormous, unprecedented world population growth and environmental impact. Biotechnology has answered the bell, producing high-yielding crops that can be grown in drought and in saline environments where crops will not naturally grow. The result has been an increase in food production in world areas where it is badly needed.

But pesticide residues, pathogenic microorganisms and toxins continue to be major issues facing farmers and the food industry in general. Information technology has amplified the seriousness of these issues and brought them to the forefront. Recent recalls of meat and vegetables due to pathogenic microorganism contamination — and the health scare from such recalls — demonstrate the seriousness of pathogenic microorganism contamination in food.

Recent scientific advances point out that toxins such as mycotoxins in food and in animal feed can significantly increase the incidence of various types of cancers in humans. Aflatoxin in feed impacts poultry, beef, and pork farming due to low feed conversion, resulting in significant animal productivity losses. Aflatoxin metabolites (aflatoxin M1) in milk from feeding cows with aflatoxin-contaminated feed is a serious threat to human health. Recently in the U.S., aflatoxin poisoning from pet food led to more than 70 dogs dying and 80 more falling ill. This prompted a massive recall of pet food products. MORE