Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
- 2011 (2) (entfernen)
Dokumenttyp
Sprache
- Englisch (2)
Referierte Publikation
- ja (2) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- Analysis (1)
- CRM (1)
- Cereals (1)
- Coffee (1)
- European reference materials (1)
- Food safety (1)
- Food safety and quality (1)
- Mycotoxins (1)
- OTA (1)
- Trading (1)
On the world scale, the European Union has established the most comprehensive regulations for mycotoxins in food and feed. These regulations, which areinter alia expressed in the form of maximum levels, largely affect cereal traders. To ensure the safety of their products and compliance with EU legislation traders are required to quantify the mycotoxin levels in their lots. However, while the analytical approaches of research and enforcement are well known and frequently reviewed in the scientific and legal literature, little detailed information is available on the mycotoxin management concepts of trade. The present article is intended to close this gap. On the basis of the results of two surveys conducted amongst European cereal traders in the years 2007 and 2009, three key issues in commercial mycotoxin management are outlined and discussed in the context of the current scientific literature. These are: the issue of sampling, the availability and performance of suitable analytical methods as well as issues evolving from variations between regulatory and contractual maximum levels.
Mycotoxins are important non-anthropogenic food and feed contaminants, which can be present on almost every agricultural commodity. Effective consumer protection therefore essentially depends on food surveillance by reliable quantitative analysis enabled by appropriate quality control. Certified (matrix) reference materials (CRMs) are versatile tools to support Quality assurance. However, in the case of ochratoxin A (OTA), a hepato- and nephrotoxic mycotoxin, which is regulated in various foods, there is a lack of suitable CRMs. This lack has now been overcome by the development of two European Reference Materials (ERM®) for the Determination of OTA in roasted coffee (ERM®-BD475) and red wine (ERM®-BD476). This article discusses the material preparation process as well as the results of homogeneity and stability testing. Furthermore, the results of the inhouse certification studies carried out at BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing are presented and discussed. Interlaboratory comparison studies involving selected expert laboratories with documented Expertise in the field of mycotoxin analysis were conducted to confirm the certified values determined by BAM. The certified ochratoxin A values and their corresponding expanded uncertainties (k = 2) were assigned in full compliance with the requirements of ISO Guide 35 and are as follows:
(6.0 ± 0.6) µg kg-1 for roasted coffee, ERM®-BD475, and (0.52 ± 0.11) µg L-1 for red wine, ERM®-BD476.