What is poisonous enough to kill 100,000 turkeys? That’s the question asked by scientists who studied a mass die-off of turkeys in Great Britain. It turned out that all the turkeys had eaten peanuts from Brazil. A fungus was growing on the peanuts. The fungus produced a dangerous poison called aflatoxin. Aflatoxins cause stomach pain, lung failure, cancer, and death in people and animals.

Farmers make a great effort to prevent fungi from growing on their stored crops. In a pile of grain or nuts, fungi have plenty of food and living space. The best way for farmers to prevent fungi from growing is to make sure there is not enough for fungi to survive and grow.