International Beer Day

Jordon Bierbaum

August 4, 2017

We’ve all done it, haven’t we? Raised a beer to a celebration of some sort. You may be relaxing with friends and family in the back yard, celebrating a college graduation, or maybe you’re headed to the local establishments because you can legally consume alcohol for the first time. Either way, you most likely are going to have a beer. Even those who don't consider themselves “beer drinkers” still share a beer sometimes. 

You may be wondering why beer is a topic of discussion in regards to mycotoxins. Not too surprisingly, many of the ingredients in beer are tested for mycotoxin contamination here at Trilogy Analytical Laboratory. These include:

• Brewers’ Yeast
• Maize (Corn) 
• Wheat
• Barley and Malted Barley
• Rice
• Sorghum

Although other mycotoxins are found in these grains, the most prevalent in beer is Deoxynivalenol, aka “Vomitoxin” or “DON”, and its derivatives. Depending on climate changes during certain planting seasons, Deoxynivalenol can easily be present in these grains. In human consumption, the toxin can cause short-term nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. In animals, the toxin has more severe consequences if ingested. 

You need not worry, though. Based on regulations and testing, Deoxynivalenol in beer is at very low levels, if it is detectable at all. We invite you to enjoy the beer of your choice on August 4th, International Beer Day. 

About Trilogy

Trilogy is a food and feed safety laboratory specializing in mycotoxins, mycotoxin binder analysis, biogenic amines and animal drug residue testing. Trilogy Analytical Laboratory opened its doors in 1999 when its founders recognized a need in the mycotoxin industry for quick result turn-around utilizing reliable reference methods provided in an analytical setting. One of the main pillars of Trilogy’s strategy is to operate using a comprehensive quality program that we can rely on to ensure performance parameters are met every single time. From this philosophy the Trilogy line of quality products was born with the mycotoxin industry in mind.