Incidence of ochratoxin A in dried fruits and co-occurrence with aflatoxins in dried figs

Ninety eight dried figs, 53 sultanas and 20 dried apricots destined for export from Turkey to the European Union were tested for ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination utilizing immunoaffinity column clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). While only 2 (4%) of the sultanas exceeded the 10 ng g−1 maximum limit set by the EU, 28 (53%) of 53 sultana samples contained detectable levels of OTA, in the range of 0.51–58.04 ng g−1. Eighteen of 98 (18%) dried figs contained detectable levels of OTA, in the range of 0.87–24.37 ng g−1. Only one of the 20 dried apricots was contaminated, with 0.97 ng g−1 OTA. Dried figs analyzed for OTA were also tested for aflatoxin contamination to determine the co-occurrence of both toxins. Seven samples were confirmed aflatoxin positive, in the range of 0.23–4.28 ng g−1, and only 2 samples contained both toxins, with a maximum concentration of 24.37 ng g−1for OTA and 1.02 ng g−1 for aflatoxin B1. The average recovery and relative standard deviation (RSD) obtained from dried fruits spiked with OTA ranged from 80.5% to 91.5% and 0.99–5%, respectively. The average recovery and relative standard deviation (RSD) obtained from dried figs spiked with aflatoxin ranged from 88.78% to 93.53% and 2.54–7.25%, respectively.