A survey of cereals, cereal products, feedstuffs and porcine kidneys for ochratoxin a by radioimmunoassay

Abstract

A commercial kit for the radioimmunochemical determination of ochratoxin A has been validated for application to various foods and feedstuffs. Using this kit a survey was carried out for the occurrence of ochratoxin A in Czechoslovak cereals, cereal products, feedstuffs and pig kidneys. The results show that the most contaminated are feedstuffs and cereals, in 26.7% and 8.8% of the samples of which, respectively, the ochratoxin A level exceeded 20 μg/kg. None of the cereal products and 4.2% of the pig kidneys unfit for human consumption by visual examination possessed ochratoxin A concentration higher than 5 μg/kg. Of all the samples analysed, 57% contained no detectable toxin (less than 1 μg/kg).

Keywords:

• ochratoxin A
• radioimmunoassay
• cereals
• feedstuffs
• pig kidney

Notes

Present address: Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Chemical Technology, Suchbatar Street 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czechoslovakia.