Ochratoxin A determination in paired kidneys and muscle samples from swines slaughtered in southern Italy

A survey on 54 paired kidneys and muscle samples from pigs slaughtered in Southern Italy, has been carried out in order to check the presence of ochratoxin A. Both competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (CI-ELISA) and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FD) were used to determine ochratoxin levels. Mean and median value for OTA in kidneys were 0.29 and 0.25 ng/g, respectively. Mean and median values found for muscle (0.024 and 0.01 ng/g) are significantly lower than those reported in other studies demonstrating that, irrespective of the geographical provenance of pigs, OTA incidence is far from representing a real concern for consumers. Results obtained plotting ELISA vs. HPLC results show that ELISA tends to slightly underestimate the OTA content compared to HPLC; nevertheless, ELISA remains an invaluable tool as rapid screening semiquantitative technique.