engleski

Consumers exposure to ochratoxin A from traditional meat products in Croatia

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is mycotoxin produced by certain species of Aspergillus and Penicillium genera. It can be found in feed and food, such as cereals, spices, dried fruit, but it can be also found in meat from animals intended for human consumption, coming from feed contaminated with moulds. Tradition of meat production in Croatia has a long history, and is particularly related to some parts of the country. It is common that lot of small pig producers or even households produces pork meat products intended for their consumption or for smaller amount sale. The food technology of this product is simple, since pig meat is just cured in salt and afterwards dried on smoke or wind, or in case of sausage production, minced meat is mixes with salt, red paprika powder, paper or garlic added, and also dried or smoked. In this research, samples of traditionally produced meat products were collected and analysed during period of two years, to obtain results of OTA mycotoxin contamination. The samples were collected from households in geographically different parts of Croatia. They were analysed using liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry method (LC-MS/MS) with the limit of detection (LOD) for OTA of 0.18 µg/kg. The OTA concentrations above LOD were found in 31 out of 288 samples. Average result was obtained using “lower bound” (LB), “middle bound” (MB) and “upper bound” (UB) scenario, because of cases when result was lower than LOD. For exposure calculation average result for OTA occurrence was used and pared with individual result of product intake, obtained from food consumption data base for adults in Croatia, for all three scenarios. Calculated body weight weekly exposures for LB, MB and UB scenario were respectively 0.0003, 0.0006 and 0.0008 µg/kg. Sausage influenced the most on consumer’s exposure, among six traditional meat product category. Although OTA occurrence was rare, it is recommended to monitor its presence in TMPs to observe the trend of human exposure. The results obtained in this paper will help to determine the main source of OTA in meat products, and to consider opportunities to reduce its presence as low as possible.

ochratoxin A ; traditional meat products ; consumer exposure

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