Determination of Ochratoxin A in Turkish Wines

Abstract

A validated, simple and highly sensitive analytical method was described for the determination of Ochratoxin A (OTA) in various wines produced in Turkey. OTA concentrations of 25 wine samples were examined using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection. OTA and diflunisal (internal standard) were separated using isocratic elution mode with a reversed phase Nucleosil (R) C-18 column. The mobile phase consisted of CH3CN : H2O : CH3COOH (50 : 48 : 2, v/v/v) was pumped at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The analytes were detected at 330 nm excitation and 450 nm emission wavelengths within an average time of 13 min. Samples were prepared by simply filtrating the wine samples through a 0.2 mu m filter and injected into the system without further extraction or concentration steps. OTA was detected in mu g/L levels with adequate chromatographic resolution. It was found that the amount of OTA was higher than the permitted limits (< 2 mu g/L) in 14 out of 25 samples, especially in red wines.