An investigation of the fate of ochratoxin a during bread making process

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin that occurs frequently in cereals and can be found in cereal by-products, such as bread. The aim of our study was to evaluate the variation in OTA levels during the bread-making process and HPLC-FD was used to analyse OTA in samples. The study overall contains two experiments. In the first experiment, bread-making was performed, using white flour spiked with two different levels of OTA: 5 µg/kg and 10 µg/kg. In the second experiment, OTA was added to flour before dough making and to dough before dough fermentation and to fermented dough before baking. OTA levels in both trials were analyzed at three stages in the process: after dough making, dough fermentation, and baking process. In the first experiment, for 5 µg/kg concentration the OTA levels, after dough making, dough fermentation, and baking process, were 2.76 µg/kg, 1.35 µg/kg and 0.635 µg/kg, respectively. For 10 µg/kg concentration the OTA levels, after dough making, dough fermentation, and baking process, were 7.36 µg/kg, 4.69 µg/kg and 2.37 µg/kg µg/kg, respectively. In the second experiment, for 5 µg/kg concentration the OTA levels, after dough making, dough fermentation, and baking process, were 3.433 µg/kg, 1.98 µg/kg and 0.76 µg/kg olarak, respectively. For 10 µg/kg concentration the OTA levels, after dough making, dough fermentation, and baking process, were 8.725 µg/kg, 4.293 µg/kg and 1.126 µg/kg, respectively. In our study, the OTA levels detected in the final product ranged from 0.38 µg/kg to 2.915 µg/kg. It was seen that OTA levels in final products were at concentrations below the legal limit (3 µg/kg) recommended by European Commission and Turkish Food Codex Regulation.