Two Chinese nationals were caught trying to smuggle a Fusarium pathogen into the U.S. One of the individuals, a University of Michigan researcher, is now in federal custody. The pathogen causes Fusarium head blight, a disease impacting wheat and barley. NDSU Plant Pathologist Andrew Friskop says the fungus is not new. “Fusarium Graminearum has been here since the early 1900s,” Friskop said. “It causes Fusarium head blight or scab, and we’ve spent decades developing management tools used across the U.S.” Friskop warned the disease’s impact goes beyond yield loss. “It produces a mycotoxin called deoxynivalenol, or vomitoxin, which affects wheat quality and food safety. The FDA limits it to one part per million or less in food for human consumption.”
