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Original Research
6.
Risk analysis and exposure assessment of ochratoxin
A in Serbia -
Dragan R. Milicevic, Srdan Stefanovic, Sasa Jankovic,
Tatjana Radicevic
Vet World. 2012; 5(7): 412-416
doi:
10.5455/vetworld.2012.412-416
Abstract
Aim:
The aim of this study was to check the current
status of OTA contamination of the Serbian pork and
chicken meat in naturally exposed animals which are
part of chain production. The knowledge of these
factors, their importance and significance, can be
used as a tool from the food safety point of view to
predict if OTA content in pork and chicken tissues
poses a risk to human health and deleterious effects
on animals' health and well-being.
Materials and
Methods: A total of 540 samples of pigs blood,
kidney, liver and chicken gizzard were randomly
selected from slaughtered pigs (n=90) and chicken
(n=90) and analyzed for the presence of ochratoxin A
(OTA) by High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-FL).
Results: In porcine tissue samples, of the 90
liver samples, 26.6% contained OTA in the range of
0.22-14.5 ng/g. The incidence of OTA in serum and
kidneys were very similar (31% and 33.3%,
respectively), with a maximum concentration of 220.8
ng/mL, and 52.5 ng/g, respectively. Majority of
chickens' tissues samples, were not found to contain
measurable amounts of OTA. Moreover, the OTA levels
found in analysed tissues were low in general.
Conclusion: The results of this preliminary
research indicate that the content of OTA in the
examined tissues are far below the values that
represent hazard to the health of consumers.
However, the results of this study show that in
Serbia, consumers are nevertheless frequently
exposed to ochratoxins.
Key words: ochratoxin
A, tissues samples, residue, exposure assessment
