Ochratoxin A concentrations in food and feed from a region with Balkan Endemic Nephropathy

• Published in: Food additives and contaminants Vol. 19; no. 8; pp. 755 - 764
• Main Authors: Abouzied, M. M., Horvath, A. D., Podlesny, P. M., Regina, N. P., Metodiev, V. D., Kamenova-Tozeva, R. M., Niagolova, N. D., Stein, A. D., Petropoulos, E. A., Ganev, V. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Taylor & Francis Group 01.08.2002; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Animal Feed - analysis; Balkan Endemic Nephropathy; Balkan Nephropathy - etiology; Biological and medical sciences; Bulgaria; Carcinogens - analysis; Carcinogens - toxicity; Case-Control Studies; Endemic Diseases; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Food Analysis - methods; Food Contamination - analysis; Humans; Interstitial nephritis; Maximum Allowable Concentration; Medical sciences; Nephrology. Urinary tract diseases; Nephropathies. Renovascular diseases. Renal failure; Ochratoxin A; Ochratoxins - analysis; Ochratoxins - toxicity; Bulgaria; Europe; Interstitial nephritis; Kidney disease; Ochratoxin; Urinary system disease; Mycotoxin; Foodstuff; Epidemiology; Balkans endemic nephropathy; Toxin; Surveillance; Etiology; Biological contamination; Feed; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0265-203X; 1464-5122
• DOI: 10.1080/02652030210145036

Balkan Endemic Nephropathy (BEN), a chronic renal disease of unknown aetiology, is found in geographically close areas of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Ochratoxin A (OTA), a secondary metabolite of Aspergillus and Penicillium species and a natural contaminant of food and feed, is a putative cause of BEN. Some studies have found a geographic covariation between OTA content in food/feed and BEN manifestation; others have not. In May 2000, using a competitive direct ELISA assay for OTA (detection limit 1 μg kg -1 ), we investigated OTA contamination in 165 samples of home-produced food (beans, potatoes, corn, wheat, flour) and feed from households in villages from the BEN region (Vratza district) of north-western Bulgaria. Samples were collected from: (a) BEN villages (n = 8), and therein from BEN households (20), and BEN-free households (16) (within-village controls, WVC households); and (b) BEN-free villages (7) and therein BEN-free households (22) (between-village controls, BVC). BEN households consistently had a higher proportion of OTA-positive samples than WVC households, but similar (for some foods) or lower (for other foods) proportions to BVC households. The proportion of OTA-positive samples was also higher in BVC than in WVC households. Furthermore, BEN households had a similar proportion of OTA-positive samples to the pooled, WVC and BVC, group of households. OTA-exposure estimates, derived from our OTA-concentration findings and the reported average per capita monthly consumption of basic foods in rural Bulgaria, showed the highest OTA intake in BEN households (1.21 μg day -1 ), versus 1.03 μg day -1 in BVC and 0.71 μ g day -1 in WVC households. These OTA intakes are higher than those in the EU, and are close to the upper limits acceptable to several food-safety organizations. The results indicate that OTA may not alone cause BEN; only synergistically with other environmental toxicants and/or predisposing genotypes may do so.