Ochratoxin A in wines and grape juices commercialized in the city of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

During the summer of 2005, a total of 101 samples of wines and grape juices purchased from supermarkets and retail stores in São Paulo city were analysed for the presence of Ochratoxin A (OTA). OTA was evaluated in 29 red wines and 38 grape juices produced in Brazil and in 34 imported red wines (from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and South Africa). OTA was extracted in an immunoaffinity column and detected by HPLC with fluorescence detection, according to EN 14133/2003. The detection and quantification limits established were 0.01 and 0.03 ng/mL, respectively. The recoveries for wine samples were 94.1, 82.5, 86.1% and the relative standard deviation were 6.10, 1.03, 4.11% at levels of 0.03, 2.0, 5.0 ng/mL, respectively. For grape juice, the recovery was 86.2% and the RSD was 2.01% at a level of 0.4 ng/mL. OTA contamination was found in nine of the 29 Brazilian red wines with levels ranging from 0.10 to 1.33 ng/mL and in 18 of the 34 imported red wines with levels ranging from 0.03 to 0.32 ng/mL. OTA was not detected in any of the grape juice samples analysed. Although the results from the wine samples analysed for the presence of OTA were below to the limits established by EC 123/2005 (2.0 ng/mL), low and continuous exposure to this mycotoxin could be a risk to human health.

Occurrence of ochratoxin A in grapes, juices and wines and risk assessment related to this mycotoxin exposure

“…OTA levels in juices were lower than 2ng mL -1 in other studies cited in table 1, in which the occurrence of this mycotoxin was evaluated, including samples from Brazil (ROSA et al, 2004;SHUNDO et al, 2006), China (CAO et al, 2013, Spain (BELLI et al, 2004), Malaysia (LEE et al, 2012 and Switzerland (ZIMMERLI & DICK, 1996). In these cases, the OTA exposure through consumption of juice has not represented a health risk, since the estimated exposure to this toxin were lower than the value established as PTWI by JECFA (ZIMMERLI & DICK, 1996;ROSA et al, 2004;BELLI et al, 2004;SHUNDO et al, 2006;LEE et al, 2012;CAO et al, 2013).…”

“…Since OTA was first detected in these beverages sold in Switzerland (ZIMMERLI & DICK, 1996), several studies about the occurrence of OTA are found in the literature (Table 1 and 2). The concentration of OTA in juice and wine is often reported below of legislation limit (2ng mL -1 ) (WOESE, 2000;NG et al, 2004;ROSA et al, 2004;SHUNDO et al, 2006;QUINTELA et al, 2012;CAO et al, 2013;LASRAM et al, 2013).…”

Exposure to ochratoxin A through consumption of grape juices produced by steam distillation method and intended for school meals

“…The studies about the occurrence of OTA in Brazilian juices are incipient. Literature data are mainly related to juice produced by enzymatic method (also called as Welch) (ZIMERLI E DICK, 1996;ROSA et al, 2004;SHUNDO et al, 2006;LEE et al, 2012;CAO et al, 2013).…”

“…The levels found in 91% of samples marketed in Malasia were of 0.02 to 1.05μg L -1 (LEE et al, 2012). In evaluations of juice produced in Brazil, no sample presented OTA levels above the maximum limit established by Brazilian legislation (2μg L -1 ) (ROSA et al, 2004;SHUNDO et al, 2006). ROSA et al (2004) analyzed 64 grape juice samples marketed in Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil.…”

“…OTA was found in 25% of samples and the maximum level was 0.1μg L -1 . SHUNDO et al (2006) evaluated 38 grape juices produced in Brazil and OTA was not found in samples. Other data on occurrence of OTA may be checked in recently review published by DACHERY et al (2015), in which the exposure levels related to consumption of grape juice containing OTA were reported.…”