Ocratoxina a en muestras de cacao en granoorigen, incidencia y eliminacion

Resumen

#titulo: ocratoxina a en muestras de cacao en grano: origen, incidencia y eliminación #RESUMEN: Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a secondary fungal metabolite that produces toxicity after ingestion by animais and humans. The UE has regulated its maximum permitted levies in several foodstuffs (cereals, coffee, grapes and baby foods) and is considering the inclusion of other food commodities (cocoa, dry fruits, meat-derived products, etc.). in this work, several cocoa grain samples bought in Spain and imported from Africa have been analysed for OTA. since 70 % of the samples were contaminated, a microbiological analysis was carried out to determine if fungi present in cocoa grains were responsible for this contamination. a relationship between ochratoxigenic fungi and the ota levéis found was not established. Therefore, contamination took place during a phase previous to that of storage, in the importing country. The mycotoxin distribution in cocoa gram was then studied and it was observed that the presence of this mycotoxin was principally found on the shell. Taking into account that cocoa shell is used for manufacturing fibber-enriched foodstuffs, chemical treatment for the elimination of the toxin has been developed. It is capable of eliminating, a minimum of 97.6 % of the initial OTA. All of the analytical methods used were validated in terms of selectivity, linearity, precision and accuracy, LOD and LOQ, robustness and uncertainty.