Occurrence of ochratoxin A in Italian wines

A total of 96 red wines and 15 white dessert wines produced mostly in the y ears 1995-97 in 19 Italian regions were analysed for ochratoxin A (OTA). Th e amount of OTA ranged from < 1 to 3856 ng/l, the median (mean) was found t o be 90 (419) ng/l for the red wines and 8 (736) ng/l for the white dessert wines. Our survey shows that the geographic region of origin has a strong influence on OTA contamination, both for red and for dessert wines: in fact , wines produced in southern Italy were markedly more contaminated. The ove rall median (mean) OTA concentration in the red wines produced in the four Italian areas (northwest, northeast, centre and south) was 2 (11), 90 (81), 134 (295) and 1264 (1233) ng/l. The same trend was observed for the white dessert wines: OTA concentrations of over 1000 ng/l were found in four out of five samples from southern Italy (1185, 2454, 3477, 3856 ng/l), while ce ntral and northern samples showed very low contamination. The contribution of wine to mean daily OTA intake can be considered negligible in the case o f people drinking wine manufactured in northern and central Italy; this is not true if a medium drinker constantly consumes red wine produced in south ern Italy: in this case wine alone could supply the diet with an amount of OTA equal to or even above the tolerable daily intake of 5 ng/kg body weigh t recommended by the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commissio n.