article · Foods
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a toxic mycotoxin produced by certain *Penicillium* and *Aspergillus* moulds, found in a wide array of foods including cereals, dried fruits, wine, coffee, nuts, and processed meats. It poses significant health risks to humans, exhibiting teratogenicity, immunotoxicity, carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and hepatotoxicity, and is also harmful to livestock. Due to these dangers, regulatory bodies like the European Union set maximum permitted levels for OTA in food. This review comprehensively summarises OTA's chemical structure, producing fungi, occurrence in food, toxicity, analytical methods, and control strategies, including both fungal development management and molecular inactivation. It also proposes future approaches to reduce OTA levels in food.
Ochratoxin A is a widespread food contaminant with serious health risks for humans and animals. Understanding its presence and effects is crucial for ensuring food safety and public health. This review helps consolidate knowledge on how to detect and reduce this toxin, protecting consumers and livestock from its harmful impacts.
This review consolidates existing knowledge on Ochratoxin A, which is vital for food safety organisations, regulatory bodies, and food producers. The insights could inform the development of improved detection methods and more effective control strategies for reducing mycotoxin contamination in various food products. This work supports ongoing efforts to protect public health and animal welfare by providing a comprehensive overview of current understanding and future research directions.
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Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a toxic mycotoxin produced by some mold species from genera <i>Penicillium</i> and <i>Aspergillus</i>. OTA has been detected in cereals, cereal-derived products, dried fruits, wine, grape juice, beer, tea, coffee, cocoa, nuts, spices, licorice, processed meat, cheese, and other foods. OTA can induce a wide range of health effects attributable to its toxicological properties, including teratogenicity, immunotoxicity, carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and hepatotoxicity. OTA is not only toxic to humans but also harmful to livestock like cows, goats, and poultry. This is why the European Union and various countries regulate the maximum permitted levels of OTA in foods. This review intends to summarize all the main aspects concerning OTA, starting from the chemical structure and fungi that produce it, its presence in food, its toxicity, and methods of analysis, as well as control strategies, including both fungal development and methods of inactivation of the molecule. Finally, the review provides some ideas for future approaches aimed at reducing the OTA levels in foods.
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DOI: 10.3390/foods13081184
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