Ochratoxin A in beverages from Morocco: a preliminary survey.

In a preliminary study, samples of Moroccan wines (n = 30), beers (n=5) and fruit juices (n=14) were assaved for ochratoxin A (OTA) by HPLC with fluorimetric detection, followed by confirmation by cleavage of the OTA molecule using carboxypeptidase with HPLC-fluorimetric determination of ochratoxin α(OTα). All the wine samples were contaminated, and the overall median OTA concentration was 0.65 μg/l (range 0.028-3.24 μg/l). One of the 14 samples of fruit juices was contaminated with a concentration of 1.16 μg/l, whereas none of the five beer samples was contaminated. This is the first report on the occurrence of OTA in various beverages from Morocco.