Determination of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in wheat from different regions of Turkey by HPLC with fluorescence detection

Abstract

This study examines the occurrence of anatoxins (AFS) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in bread and durum wheat samples. A total of 141 samples were collected from eleven different regions of Turkey. An analytical method based on liquid extraction, immunoaffinity column (IAC) clean-up followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the determination of AFs and OTA levels. As a result, AFs and OTA were detected in 2% and 9.2% of wheat samples at concentrations varying from 0.21 to 0.44 μg kg-1 and from 0.1 to 3.2 μg kg-1 , respectively. Anatoxin B1 (AFB1) and anatoxin B2 (AFB2) were found positive in samples ranging between 0.21-0.35 μg kg-1 and 0.094 μg kg-1 , respectively. However, none of the samples contained anatoxin G1 (AFG1) and anatoxin G2 (AFG2). The study also recommended that contamination levels in wheat and wheat-based products should be routinely monitored in greater sample numbers to insure food safety.