Determination of total aflatoxin, aflatoxin m1 and ochratoxin a in mouldy cheese that produced in commercial scale in turkey

Various types of cheeses are produced in our country. One of these types of is called mouldy cheese. Migroorganisms and their metabolites can cause these product turn to be harmful when hygienic and tehnological rules are disobey during the production. Cheeses that are produced from sheep or cow?s milk and ripened with mould in uncontrolled conditions are widely consumed in Anatolia. Mycotoxicosis is one of the dangers in mouldy cheese which produced in this way. Starting with the place where the milk is produced some preventive measures should be taken to avoid from the danger caused by the consumption of mycotoxin containing cheese. Some of mycotoxins can be detected in milk and milk products are aflatoxins and ochratoxins.Aflatoxins are toxic metabolites which are produced by Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus and Aspergillus nomius. Aflatoxin B1 is the most toxic type and aflatoxin M1 is the metabolic product of Aflatoxin B1 that are discharge with milk. As a result of animals in lactation period which feeds on the forage contained Aflatoxin B1 and Aflatoxin B2, their milk contain Aflatoxin M1 and Aflatoxin M2. Aflatoxin M1 is the most common type in milk. Aflatoxin does not change in raw milk and processed dairy products and are not effected by processes like pasteurization and cheese production. If raw milk contain aflatoxin, cheese produced by contaminated raw milk contain it. Aflatoxin M1 limit for cheese is specified 0,25 µg/kg in Turkish Food Codex.Ochratoxin is the other important mycotoxin in milk and milk products. There are 3 type of ochratoxin. They are Ochratoxin A, Ochrotoxin B and Ochratoxin C. Ochratoxin A has a strong toxic effect. Ochratoxin B has very low toxic effect and natural products rarely contain it. However, natural products never contain Ochratoxin C. Ochratoxin A is produced by Aspergillus ochraceus, Penicillium verrucosum, Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus niger and pass into human body with consumption contaminated food. İt shows carcinogenic activities in human and it causes ?Balkan endemic nephropaty?.It was analized in this study five of the most common produced cheeses(Erzurum göğermiş cheese, Konya küflü cheese, Mersin küflü tulum cheese, Kayseri küflü çömlek cheese, Isparta küflü çömlek cheese) in our country. Cheeses are investigated about some chemical properties and total aflatoxin, aflatoxin M1 and ochratoxin A levels. As a result of chemical analyses, specifying quality measures of mouldy cheese produced in Turkey and fulfilling the information requirement at issue are aimed with this study. Cheeses were determined dry matter, salt, salt in dry matter, acidity, pH, fat and fat in dry matter. The average results were found 53,28%, 4,97%, 9,06%, 0,91%, 5,31%, 16,26% and 27,64% respectively.Total aflatoxin, aflatoxin M1 and ochratoxin A contents were determined by Elisa technique. As a result of analysis performed with hundred samples, aflatoxin M1 was detected in 52 samples. Aflatoxin levels in nineteens of these fifty-two samples exceeded the maximum acceptable limit of the Turkish Food Codex. Seventeen of nineteens sampes are mouldy tulum cheese of Mersin region and the rest are comlek cheese of Isparta region.As a result of analysis, total aflatoxin was detected in forty-nine of these hundred mouldy cheese samples. Samples were evaluated for the `presence of total aflatoxin in other foods at risk?, because of the fact that a regulatory limit of total aflatoxin in ceheese is not stated in Turkish Food Codex.It is detected that ten of positive samples exceeded maximum tolerable limit of the Turkish Food Codex. Eight of ten sampes are tulum cheese of Mersin region and the rest are gogermis cheese of Erzurum region.When analyzed from the point of view of ochratoxin A, two samples contain ochratoxin A and one of them exceed the maximum tolerable limit of the Turkish Food Codex. İt is specified that positive samples are mouldy tulum cheese from Mersin.