A method is described for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) in red wine and vinegar using an acidic chloroform extraction, an immmunoaffinity clean-up step, and a high-performance liquid chromatographic determination with fluorescence detection. The detection limit was estimated at 0.002 mug/liter. The mean recovery factors were found at 91.3 and 96.6% for wine and vinegar, respectively. Thirty-one samples of red wine originating from Mediterranean sea countries and 15 samples of vinegar were examined for the presence of OTA. All red wine samples contained OTA. Seventy-two percent of these samples were found to he contaminated over 0.1 mug/liter. Among them, nine samples contained ochratoxin A in the range of 0.5 to 3.4 mug/liter, 12 samples in the range of 0.10 to 0.50 mug/liter (median: 0.176 mug/liter), and 9 samples in the range of 0.010 to 0.100 mug/liter (median: 0.041 mug/liter). All 15 vinegar samples showed the presence of OTA. The most contaminated ones were three balsamic vinegar samples containing 0.156 mug/liter, 0.102 mug/liter, and 0.252 mug/liter of OTA. In the remaining 12 samples, ochratoxin A levels ranged from 0.008 mug/liter to 0.046 mug/liter (median: 0.012 mug/liter). These data are in good agreement with the hypothesis that wine originating from Southern countries might contain significant OTA concentration and showed the possible occurrence of traces of OTA in vinegar.
