Aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in dry-fermented sausages in Croatia, by LC-MS/MS

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to develop a highly-sensitive liquid chromatographic – tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method to investigate the presence of aflatoxins (AFB₁, AFB₂, AFG₁ and AFG₂) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in traditional homemade sausages (n = 88) collected from small family farms situated in different regions in Croatia. Aflatoxins were not detected (<LOD) in any of the analysed samples, whereas the percentage of OTA-positive homemade sausages was 14.8%, consisting of 1.1% Istrian sausages, 7.9% Slavonian sausages and 5.7% Kulenova Seka. In Slavonian sausages, the mean OTA concentration was 0.27 ± 0.09 μg/kg with a maximum of 0.38 μg/kg, while in Kulenova Seka the mean concentration was 0.26 ± 0.14 μg/kg, rising to a maximum of 0.48 μg/kg. Statistically significant differences (p = .243) in OTA concentrations across different types of homemade sausage and sampling regions were not determined.

KEYWORDS:

• Mycotoxins
• aflatoxins
• ochratoxin A
• LC/MS-MS
• traditional fermented sausages

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Croatian Veterinary Institute through the founds of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Science Foundation through the project “Mycotoxins in traditional Croatian meat products: molecular identification of mycotoxin-producing moulds and consumer exposure assessment” (HRZZ-IP-2018-01-9017).