The Vienna-based B&C Foundation hasawarded the first place in the Houska Prize to Biomin for its fumonisin-degradingenzyme FUMzyme.
The Boku Vienna project – the joint Biomin-Boku mycotoxins research – “stood out with a highly topical scientific concept” while offering “a prime example of successful cooperation between (academic) research and corporate partnership,” according to the B&C Foundation.
For the first place award, the Houska Prize committee at the B&C Foundation identified molds as a recurring problem in agriculture and growing threat to food safety. In addition to the billions in losses due to damage, fumonisins induce severe diseases in animals that could lead ultimately to death.
The latest BIOMIN Mycotoxin Survey 2013 found more than 21% of all feed ingredient samples containing more than 1,000 ppb of fumonisins, a level of fumonisin contamination that poses a medium-to-high health risk for pigs and poultry.