MOULTRIE, GA TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2003 50 CENTS
South Georgia
firm hopes to
mass market
its product
By Lori Glenn
lori.glenn@gaflnews.com
Moultrie - Choosy buy-
choose no aflatoxins.
Aflatoxin, a mycotixin pro-
duced by two types of molds, is
linked to liver cancer. It's so
dangerous that Saddam
Hussein is reported to have
developed it as a weapon, mem-
bers of the Circle One Global
management team said
Monday.
Circle One is exhibiting at
the Sunbelt Agricultural Expo
in Moultrie
this week,
working to
gain the
interest of
producers
and consumers alike.
The
Southwest
Georgia com-
pany hopes to
mass market a
product
with nothing
else like it
currently on
the market
that signifi-
cantly curbs
aflatoxin production
in peanuts and corn,
even during storage. Food man
ufacturers go to a major
expense to ensure very
little
aflatoxins get into food and
feedstock.
"It's something that the
average person on the street
just doesn't realize," Circle One
Secretary and Treasurer Alvin
Jones said.
Millions of dollars and 17
years of research has boiled
down to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's development of a
fungus that crowds out aflatox-
in. The fungus will be marketed
exclusively by Circle One
Guard. Tests show levels of
aflatoxin in dry-land peanuts
can be reduced up to 90 percent
with Afla-Guard, Jones said.
Right now, Afla-Guard is
running a battery of tests to be
certified as safe by the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency. If all goes well (and
Jones said things look good)
that step should be complete by
spring, allowing Afla-Guard to
hit the market just in time for
the 2004 domestic peanut grow-
ing season.
Three weeks ago Circle One
secured an amendment to its
contract to extend its licensing
rights to corn. The composition
of the current form of Afla-
Guard will have to be modified
to be effective on corn, and the
EPA will want more tests, Circle One officials said. "It's totally
harmless to human health, to animals
and to the environment, which
was a great con sideration going
through the EPA process,"
Jones said.
Aflatoxin can be found in
peanuts, corn,cottonseed (used
as animal feed), figs and tree
nuts, a recent National Corn
Growers Assoiation article said.
The fungus costs U.S. industries
more than $1 billion every year,
the article said. Southeast farmers
lose more than $27 million in an
average year due to contamination.
Shellers and manufacturers
have lost almost $100 million in
particularly bad years where
drought was a factor, Circle
One spokespersons said.
Irrigation can inhibit pre-
harvest aflatoxin contamina-
tion, but only about half of
peanuts grown in the Southeast
are irrigated, National Peanut
Buying Points Association
Executive Director Tyron
Spearman said.
material out, you'll get a 70-per-
cent effectiveness. The more
years you use Afla-Guard on
that same acre of land, then
you can get up to 90 to 98 per-
cent effectiveness," Circle One
Global President Danny Gay
said.
Aflatoxin can spread like
wildfire even during post-har-
vest storage, Afla-Guard has
demonstrated a significant abil-
ity to reduce contamination by
98 percent in stored peanuts,
Jones said.
"It creates a problem for a
sheller, because a sheller buys a
(top grade) peanut with maybe
one (parts per billion) and all of
a sudden it turns into 1,000ppb,
and then they have to spend
over $100 a ton to clean it up,"
Gay said.
Acceptable levels of aflatox-
in in the U.S. are up to 20 parts
per billion for consumption
by humans and animals.
Last year's farm bill gave impe-
tus to growers to become mar-
ket-driven. Afla-Guard could be
the edge American producers
need to crack more cautious
markets. Europe only allows up
to four parts per billion, and
Jones suspects the European
Union will drop the level to
zero.
Shellers are anxious for the
product to hit the market, Gay
said, even considering paying
farmers a premium that would
cover the $20-per-acre cost of
application.
"We feel like if we could get
a couple of hundred thousand
acres in the first year, that
would be great," he said.
Once production gets under
way, Circle One Global expects
to partner with deeper pockets.
"So it's not going to be the
four of us who got involved
(with the licensing) to put this
infrastructure together. Of
course, it will be food for
Southwest Georgia, because we
will be very influential in hav-
ing the manufacturing remain
here, and also for the peanut
industry, this is the most perfect
...for shipping and as far as
usage in the peanut industry,"
Jones said.
To contact reporter Lori Glenn,
please call 985-4545, ext. 224.