Official control of ochratoxin A in food of animal origin in Poland between 2003 and 2012

Between 2003 and 2012, 1413 samples of kidneys, liver, and muscles from swine, cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and fish were examined for the presence of ochratoxin A. The examination was performed in the framework of “The National Residue Control Programme for Chemical, Biological, and Drug Residue in Animal Tissues and in the Food of Animal Origin”. The mycotoxin was determined by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection after immunoaffinity column clean up. The limit of quantification was 0.2 μg/kg. Ochratoxin A was found only in swine kidney samples (n = 1092). It was detected in 28.8% of the kidney samples at the concentrations from 0.2 to 29.2 μg/kg. The most of the samples (25.5%) contained OTA at the concentration ranging from 0.2 to 5 μg/kg, which is below the provisional action level for OTA in kidneys, established in Poland at the concentration of 5 μg/kg. Furthermore, 24 (2.2 ) samples had mycotoxin concentrations between 5 and 10 μg/kg and 13 (1.2 ) samples above 10 μg/kg.