Soybeans, peas, corn, sunflower seed and other crops that didn’t already have maximum tolerances in place for animal dung will have those limits starting Aug. 1.
Following recommendations last month from its Western and Eastern standards committees, the Canadian Grain Commission announced Tuesday that as of Aug. 1, excreta tolerances will be established for grains that don’t already have them.
“Excreta,” put politely, refers to feces from “vertebral column animals” including deer, antelope, elk, and moose. In terms of grain safety and quality, it tends to be a greater problem in years where harvest is prolonged, wildlife populations are greater, or large volumes of grain are stored on the ground.
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For corn (Western and Eastern yellow, white or mixed), the tolerance effective Aug. 1 will be 0.02 per cent. For beans — including soybeans, cranberry, blackeye, yelloweye and pea beans, the tolerance effective Aug. 1 will be 0.01 per cent.
Excreta tolerances in buckwheat will also be 0.01 per cent effective Aug. 1. For oilseed sunflowers and for safflower seed, the level will be 0.02 per cent, also Aug. 1. For confectionary sunflowers, the tolerance will be tighter, at 0.005 per cent.
Canada Western (CW) Experimental barley will also have a 0.01 per cent tolerance effective Aug. 1, as will western Desi and Kabuli chickpeas.
For Canada Western and Eastern feed grains grading “Sample,” the tolerance level for excreta will be 0.03 per cent, but will take effect one month sooner, on July 1.
“Prevention and precaution are the best defences against the presence of excreta in grain,” the commission said. “In particular, producers should take measures necessary to prevent wildlife from gaining access to grain stored on the ground.”
Primary elevator operators, meanwhile, are not allowed to store grain on the ground without prior CGC approval.
Away from K
The CGC on Tuesday also announced it will complete the move away from “K” values to percentage values for tolerances such as stones and smudge, effective in some crops such as Eastern corn, oats and wheats on July 1, with others including buckwheat, fababeans, safflower, sunflower and Western wheats to follow on Aug. 1.
K value refers to kernel count, the number of kernel-sized pieces in a 500-gram sample, whereas the eastern committee’s recommended tolerances are valued in percentage of the net weight of a sample.
The only commodity that will keep K values as a measurement of tolerances will be mustard, across all classes, the CGC said.
