Occurrence of aflatoxin B1, total aflatoxin and ochratoxin a in bulgur commercialized in Turkey

Abstract

Mycotoxins are important fungal toxic secondary metabolites with regards to food safety. They are formed during cereal growth or in post-harvest storage and they may not be completely removed during food processing operations. Mycotoxins have carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, toxicological effects on humans and animals. In this study, totally 113 bulgur samples were investigated for the levels of afl atoxin B1 (AFB1), total afl atoxin (AF Total) and ochratoxin A (OTA) by ELISA technique. AFB1 levels were between 0-1 ppb in 61 samples (53.98 %), between 1.001-1.999 ppb in 52 samples (46.02 %). AF Total levels were between 0-1 ppb in 20 samples (17.70 %), between 1.001-1.999 ppb in 46 samples (40.71 %), between 2-2.999 ppb in 39 samples (34.51 %) and between 3-3.999 ppb in 8 samples (7.08 %). OTA levels were between 0-1 ppb in 69 samples (61.06 %), between 1.001-1.999 ppb in 35 samples (30.98%), between 2-2.999 ppb in 6 samples (5.31 %) and above 3 ppb in 3 samples (2.65 %). These three bulgur samples were contaminated at levels above the legal limit (max 3 ppb) for ochratoxin.