Natural co-occurrence of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in spices

Abstract

The present study aims to determine the co-occurrence of aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in spices marketed in Turkey. During the period from November 2010 to August 2011, 105 samples of spices were checked for targeted mycotoxins. The mycotoxins were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) after immunoaffinity column (IAC) clean-up. The method was validated for selectivity, sensitivity, accuracy and repeatability as relative standard deviation (RSD). Good recoveries (80.7–95.7%) were obtained for mycotoxins in each food matrix, with RSD values lower than 15%.

Aflatoxins were detected in 79.2% of red chilli flake, 63.6% of red chilli powder, 30.4% of black pepper powder and 21.1% of cumin samples, while none of the cinnamon powder samples contained AFs at detectable levels. Four red chilli flake and three red chilli powder samples were above the EU regulatory limit of 5 μg kg−1 for AFB1. OTA was found in 75% of red chilli flake, 54.5% of red chilli powder, 17.4% of black pepper powder, with four red chilli flake and three red chilli powder samples exceeding EU limit of 30 μg kg−1. No OTA was found in cinnamon powder samples, while detectable levels of OTA were found in only one cumin sample. The co-occurrence of AFB1 and OTA was detected in 62.5% of red chilli flake, 40.9% of red chilli powder and 4.3% of black pepper powder samples. This study reports for the first time the natural co-occurrence of AFs and OTA in spices from Turkey.