Occurrence of ochratoxin A in grain and manufactured food products in China detected by HPLC with fluorescence detection and confirmed by LC-ESI-MS/MS.

A total of 110 commercially available samples of manufactured food products including bread, oat, barley, maize, corn, wheat, grape, soluble coffee, soya bean, red wine, and baby food were randomly collected in the northeast of China during the first six months of 2010. Samples were analyzed for the presence of ochratoxin A (OTA) using immunoaffinity column (IAC) clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) and confirmed with LC-ESI-MS/MS. The range of average OTA recoveries was 78.3-103.3% at three spiked levels. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of recoveries range of 2.1-4.3%. OTA were detected in 13 samples, which were below the maximum allowable limit established by the European Community. The results of this study suggest that those manufactured food products consumed in China present no risk by human exposure to OTA through their consumption.