Abstract
“DETERMINATION
OF
OCHRATOXIN
A
IN
COFFEE
BY
LIQUID
CHROMATOGRAPHY IN ORDER TO ASSESS RISK ANALYSIS”.
Carmen García Calzadilla1, Grettel García Díaz1, Eyda Otero Fernández-Trevejo1
1National
Institute of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology, Cuba
ABSTRACT
OchratoxinA (OTA) is a nephrotoxic mycotoxin with carcinogenic properties, it can be found
in green coffee, roasted coffee and coffee brew, sodietary intake of this toxin in
coffeerepresents a risk factor for human health. Cuba does not possess data available for
the presence of OTA in foods; in the present work a HPLC method with immunoaffinity
clean-up and fluorescence detection was developed for determination of OTA in roasted
coffee, in order to achieve risk analysis to the toxin fora population of Havana and to
enssurethe sanitary quality of thecubanproduct for consumption and exportation. The toxin
was found in 60.3% of 63 samples of pure and mixed roasted coffee and instant coffee at
concentrations ranging from 0.02-3.24 µg/kg and recoveries were 64.2-96.8%.Based on
OTA contamination levels found and data of consumption of coffee supplied for an adult
population of Havana, exposure through OTA consumption was estimated. No risk was
determined because the Maximal Teorethical Weekly Intake of 17.83 ng/kgbw/week and
Effective Weekly Intake of 0.57 ng/kg bw/week, were both under Provisional Tolerable
Weekly Intake established by JECFA of 100 ng/kgbw/week. The occurrence of OTA in
more than 50% of samples analyzed suggests that regular consumption of coffee in the
population studied may contribute to exposition to this mycotoxin in humans and
demonstrates the importance of an effective control of this product.