Survey of Ochratoxin A in coffee, dried grapes and grape pekmez samples in Burdur, Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and levels of ochratoxin 6 A (OTA) in coffee (roasted and instant), dried grapes and grape pekmez samples 7 consumed in Burdur city markets. During 2015, a total of 86 samples including 43 coffee 8 (30 instant coffee and 13 roasted coffee), 17 dried grapes and 26 grape pekmez were 9 randomly collected from different markets of Burdur. The occurrence and contamination 10 levels of OTA in the samples were investigated by the competitive enzyme-linked 11 immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) method. OTA was detected in 24 (55 %) coffee samples 12 (13 roasted coffee and 11 instant coffee samples) and in 1 (3 %) grape pekmez samples. 13 The range OTA levels were 8.34 and 22.54 µg/kg in coffee samples and 20.48 µg/kg in 14 one grape pekmez sample, respectively. The highest recorded OTA concentration was 15 22.54 µg/kg in instant coffee. Futhermore, 13 roasted coffee, 11 instant coffee and 1 grape 16 pekmez samples were contaminated at levels above the Turkish legal limits of 5 µg/kg,10 17 µg/kg and 2 µg/kg, respectively. In contrast, OTA was not detected in all dried grape 18 samples. It is concluded that the occurrence of OTA, coffee samples, in particular may be 19 considered as a possible hazard for public health.