Time and temperature dependent microbiological and mycotoxin (ochratoxin-A) levels in boza

Abstract This study describes the examination of microbiological tests and the determination of OTA in boza temperature and time dependently. Prior to the analysis, physicochemical properties of the boza samples such as moisture, total acidity as lactic acid, pH, protein amount and viscosity were investigated. The incidence of total aerobic bacteria (TAB), lactic acid bacteria (LAB), coliforms, E.coli , Salmonella , S. aureus , B. cereus , yeast and moulds were examined. E.coli, Salmonella , S. aureus and B. cereus were not found in all boza samples. Initally, Aspergillus fumigatus ; Acremonium sp. ; Geotrichum candidum and Geotrichum capitatum were identified in the samples. Certain extraction techniques such as direct injection, liquid–liquid and solid phase (SP) were tried for the OTA analysis. The most available way was found to be direct injection among them and the recovery was 70.56% ± 9.80 (13.89 RSD). OTA amounts were determined in all boza samples utilizing an isocratic HPLC analysis with an ODS column. OTA was detected in only one sample as 3.58 µg/kg and this amount is above the limits of European Commission Regulations. Time and temperature-dependent changes were investigated and insignificant variation was observed.