M. Blanc et al., BEHAVIOR OF OCHRATOXIN-A DURING GREEN COFFEE ROASTING AND SOLUBLE COFFEE MANUFACTURE, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 46(2), 1998, pp. 673-675
As considerable inconsistencies are found in the literature regarding
the influence of roasting and subsequent operations on the ochratoxin
A (OTA) content of green coffee, experiments were undertaken to assess
the evolution of OTA along an industrial soluble coffee manufacturing
line. Both the variability and the amount of OTA naturally present in
a lot of Thai Robusta green coffee were drastically reduced during so
luble coffee manufacture. A small proportion of OTA was eliminated dur
ing green coffee cleaning, but the most significant reduction took pla
ce during roasting. The roast and ground coffee contained only 16% of
the OTA originally present in the green coffee. Two phenomena are resp
onsible for the elimination of OTA during roasting: a thermal degradat
ion and a removal with chaff. Thermal degradation is the most importan
t route of elimination, with < 20% accounted for by the chaff. A furth
er 20% reduction was observed during soluble coffee manufacture, so th
at the powder contained only 13% of the OTA initially present in the g
reen beans.