Ochratoxin A in red pepper flakes commercialised in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Ochratoxin A (OTA) in red pepper flakes commercialised in Turkey. A total of 75 samples were collected from different supermarkets and traditional bazaars in Istanbul during 2012-2013. OTA analysis was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection after immunoaffinity column clean-up. The method was linear in the range 0.05-40 mu gkg(-1) (r(2)=0.9997). Twenty-seven out of 31 (87.1%) packed red pepper flake samples contained OTA at concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 1.0 mu gkg(-1), whereas 100% of the unpacked red pepper flake samples contained OTA, in the range 1.1-31.7 mu gkg(-1). Overall, only 4 unpacked samples (5.3%) contained OTA, with a mean value of 23.4 mu gkg(-1), which is higher than the European Union limit. It is suggested that OTA content should be carefully considered in red pepper flake samples especially marketed in unpacked form.