Beer : Health and Nutrition

54 Chapter Three
and malt, and will not use grain that contains it. Fusarium infection is a bigger risk in
wetter climates. Thus it was virtually unheard of in North America until the mid-1990s,
when a substantial problem was encountered. The reason was a movement away from
the burning of straw stubble after grain had been harvested. This burning, outlawed
for supposed environmental damage, had served the valuable function of destroying
Fusarium spores. Once burning was banned, it meant that the Fusarium was enriched
in the soil and readily available to spoil crops the subsequent year.
Woller and Marjerus (1982) and Marjerus and Woller (1983) failed to detect any
mycotoxins in a diversity of beers (detection limit 1–2 µg/L). It is not impossible to nd
nite levels of mycotoxins – see for example Payen et al. (1983). However, provided
all parties adhere to the strictest standards of hygiene from eld to glass, and the grain
is maintained under the appropriately low levels of moisture and temperature, then this
is not an issue.
Hops
The number of brewers employing whole hops (Fig. 3.2) is dwindling, with many
using processed forms such as pellets or extracts made with liquid carbon dioxide. In
any event, quantitatively the hop affords a minor fraction of the overall composition
of beer, albeit a very important one in terms of quality. As we shall see, hops also offer
intriguing possibilities from a health perspective.
Fig. 3.2 Hops. Reproduced courtesy of Yakima Chief Inc. (www.yakimachief.com).