title: Ochratoxin A in blood from slaughter pigs in Sweden: use in evaluation of toxin content of consumed feed.
abstract: Samples of pig blood, intended for ochratoxin A analysis, were collected from pigs of 279 randomly selected herds. The samples were obtained at nine different slaughterhouses from different areas of Sweden. Pigs from 47 herds (16.8% of the total) exhibited ochratoxin A in amounts of greater than or equal to 2 ng of ochratoxin A per ml of blood. One sample each from a single pig per herd identified herds contaminated with ochratoxin A in amounts exceeding three times the detection limit of the method (3 x 2 ng of ochratoxin A per ml of blood = 6 ng of ochratoxin A per ml of blood). There was a good agreement between ochratoxin A concentrations in the blood from different pigs within the same herd (correlation coefficient = 0.80). The ochratoxin A concentration in pig blood was used as an estimate of the ochratoxin A content of the consumed feed. This method showed that feed from grain produced on-farm contained higher concentrations of ochratoxin A than commercial feed preparations. No geographical variation of ochratoxin A occurrence within Sweden was detected.
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D009793:Ochratoxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D013548:Sweden; D013552:Swine / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D009793:Ochratoxins