title: Ochratoxin A in red pepper flakes commercialised in Turkey.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Ochratoxin A (OTA) in red pepper flakes commercialised in Turkey. A total of 75 samples were collected from different supermarkets and traditional bazaars in Istanbul during 2012-2013. OTA analysis was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection after immunoaffinity column clean-up. The method was linear in the range 0.05-40 μg kg(-1) (r(2) = 0.9997). Twenty-seven out of 31 (87.1%) packed red pepper flake samples contained OTA at concentrations ranging from 0.6 to 1.0 μg kg(-1), whereas 100% of the unpacked red pepper flake samples contained OTA, in the range 1.1-31.7 μg( )kg(-1). Overall, only 4 unpacked samples (5.3%) contained OTA, with a mean value of 23.4 μg kg(-1), which is higher than the European Union limit. It is suggested that OTA content should be carefully considered in red pepper flake samples especially marketed in unpacked form.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Pharmaceutical Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy , Istanbul University , Istanbul , Turkey.
authors.forename: Alperen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tosun
authors.affiliation: a Department of Pharmaceutical Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy , Istanbul University , Istanbul , Turkey.
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozden
mesh_terms: D002212:Capsicum / Q000737:chemistry*; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D009793:Ochratoxins / Q000737:chemistry*; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D009793:Ochratoxins; C025589:ochratoxin A
keywords: HPLC-FLD; Ochratoxin A; immunoaffinity column; red pepper flakes