A Survey of Barley, Malt and Beer Contamination with Ochratoxin A in Turkey

T. Gumus ¹, M. Arici ¹, ² and M. Demirci ^1
1 Department of Food Engineering Faculty of Agriculture Trakya University, 59030 Tekirdag, Turkey.
² Corresponding author. E-mail: marici@tu.tzf.edu.tr

J. Inst. Brew. 110(2), 146-149, 2004  |   VIEW ARTICLE

ABSTRACT
The presence of ochratoxin A (OTA) was investigated in barley, malt and beer samples using an ELISA method (RIDASCREEN). The lower detection limit of this OTA test was 0.08 µg/L for beer and 0.4 µg/kg for barley and malt. In 26 out of 29 barley samples the OTA content was between 0.53-12 µg/kg. OTA was between 0.5-6.6 µg/kg in 23 out of 24 malt samples. Only one malt sample had no detectable OTA using RIDASCREEN. The OTA content was between 0.1-8.10 µg/L in 42 out of 150 beer samples (28%) and in 108 beer samples OTA was not found at detectable levels (72%). Only one beer sample contained more than 5 µg/L OTA.

Key words:
Barley, beer, malt, ochratoxin A.

Publication no. G-2004-0518-171  ^©2004 The Institute & Guild of Brewing