engleski

Ochratoxin A contamination of traditional dry-cured meat products

Dry-cured meat products produced using traditional technological processes represent food brands best recognised worldwide. During ripening, the surface of these products becomes overgrown with moulds whose spores mostly come from the environment in which ripening chambers are placed. The intensity of the overgrowth is enhanced by ripening longevity and traditional production environment in which, usually, no microbiological filters and no pneumatic barriers are used, so that the air temperature and relative humidity are virtually uncontrollable. Surface moulds are mainly of the Penicillium and Aspergillus genera, some of those having beneficial effects on product quality, and some causing mycotoxin contamination of the final products. The presence of the mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) in dry-cured meat products can be mouldgenerated or come as a consequence of an indirect contamination (carryover effect) in case the meat-providing animals had been exposed to contaminated diet during farming. Another path of contamination are contaminated ingredients (e.g., spices) used in dry-cured meat products’ production. This study investigated into the occurrence of OTA in different types of dry-fermented sausages and hams (n = 135) produced by a large number of households situated in different Croatian regions and sampled from the markets. Surface moulds were isolated and identified using traditional mycological and molecular (polymerase chain reaction, PCR) methods. The presence of OTA was first determined using a validated immunoassay method (ELISA) ; in samples with OTA concentrations higher than the limit of detection, the mycotoxin presence was confirmed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). OTA presence was determined in 11% of samples in the maximal concentration of 2.54 μg/kg in a ham sample. From the products’ surfaces, a total of 404 Penicillium, 102 Aspergillus and 15 Mucor isolates were retrieved, out of which Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus ochraceus and Penicillium verrucosum, known as OTA- producers. The results showed random OTA contamination of traditional dry-cured meat products, indicating that, in order to avoid such a contamination, household-based meat & meat products’ production should run under standardized and wellcontrolled conditions.

traditional dry-cured meat products ; moulds ; mycotoxins ; ochratoxin A

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