Incidence of Ochratoxin A in Raw and Salted Dried Fruits Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Study the presence of Ochratoxin A (OTA) in foods shows the quality of food products and manufacturer's commitment to ethical issues. This present study was carried out in order to investigate the incidence of OTA in raw and salted dried fruits using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Totally, 134 raw and salted dried fruits were collected from the supermarkets in Isfahan province, Iran. Foodstuffs were: raisins, salted and raw pistachio, hazelnut, almonds, dried fig and walnut. All samples were immediately transferred to the laboratory in dried and sterile condition. Samples were analyzed for contamination with OTA using the HPLC method. The limit of quantification (LOQ) (S/N, 10:1) of OTA was 0.02 ng/g in pistachio and hazelnut and 0.03 ng/g in walnut, dried raisins, almonds and dried figs. The incidence of occurrence of OTA in raisins and dried fig was 10.41% and 14.73%, respectively. Analytical results showed that pistachio, salted and raw pistachio, hazelnut, almonds and walnut samples contained no detectable OTA, but concentrations ranged from 2.3±14.2 to 7.9±4.3 ng/g in raisins and from 7±3.8 to 2.9±18.2 in dried figs. Results showed also that 16.41% of total number of dried fruits samples was positive OTA. This is the first report on the occurrence of OTA in dried fruits in Iran.

Incidence Study Ocratoxin A Dried Fruits High Performance Liquid Chromatography Iran