Abstract
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is an important mycotoxin that is produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium species. Ochratoxin A is a common contaminant of various foods including cereals, spices, coffee, cacao, beer, wine, raisins, pulses, meat, meat products, or edible offal. Due to a wide range of its toxic effects in humans and animals, ochratoxin A needs to be monitored. With regard to this necessity, a sensitive HPLC-FD method for purposes of the quantification of trace amounts of ochratoxin A in foods of plant and animal origin was developed, validated and applied for analysis. Food samples were cleaned using commercial immunoaffinity columns and analyzed by means of a high performance liquid chromatography method with fluorescence detection. Limit of quantification of the method ranged between 0.01–0.30 µg/kg depending on the sample matrix. Recoveries were 80–88% in the concentration range of 0.01–0.30 µg/kg, depending upon sample type. The quality of laboratory results was confirmed by successful participation in international inter-laboratory proficiency testing. This laboratory was accredited accordance to CSN ISO/EN 17025. The developed method was applied to the determination of ochratoxin A in samples from 61 types of foodstuffs of plant and animal origin, that were collected in 4 sampling terms at 12 regions of the Czech Republic in years 2011–2012. In total, 732 food samples were gathered and analyzed.
Acknowledgments
This study was financially supported by Project (No. NT12051-3/2011) from the Czech Ministry of Health (IGA MZ CR).
Notes
Abbreviations: a OTA levels <0.2 µg/kg considered as ½ LOQ = 0.1 µg/kg and OTA levels <0.01 µg/kg considered as ½ LOQ = 0.005 µg/kg, respectively, (for drinks).
Abbreviations: a , OTA levels <0.3 µg/kg considered as ½ LOQ = 0.15 µg/kg.