Ochratoxin A Occurrence in Romanian Wines

Dangerous to health through contamination of food dietary, ochratoxin A (OTA) is a potent nephrotoxic mycotoxin, being produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium species. Certain common foods based on wheat followed by oats, rice and raisins, spices, dried fruits, beer, coffee, grape juice and wine are major sources of human exposure to OTA, mainly in countries with temperate and cold climate. This paper presents results of a study on the Romanian market for OTA in wines. The OTA determination was made by means of commercial immunoaffinity columns for purification followed by HPLC with fluorescence detection for quantification of the toxin, according to EN 14133/2003. The method was applied to 20 dry white wines and 10 sweet wines obtained by various viticultural and oenological practices. The levels of ochratoxin A ranged between less than 0.06 ng/mL and 0.45 ng/mL, sweet wines showing higher levels than dry wines. Most of the wines contained relatively low concentrations of ochratoxin A (0.06 ÷ 0.1ng/mL), which do not represent a serious risk to consumer health.