Assessment of exposure to ochratoxin - A (OTA) through ground roasted coffee in two cameroonian cities: Yaounde and Douala

Occurrence of ochrato xin A (OTA) in ground roasted coffee fro m d ifferent brands and types available in Yaounde and Douala cities was assessed. Based on these data, exposure of the Cameroonian population to OTA through coffee consumption was estimated. Coffee samples were purchased in hypermarkets and supermarkets of the two selected cities of Cameroon. OTA was extracted, cleaned-up by immunoaffin ity columns, and detected by HPLC-fluorescence detection. OTA was found in 64.7% of pure Arab ica coffee, 75% of pure Robusta coffee, and 62% of Arab ica / Robusta mixtu re coffee, with OTA levels ranging fro m 0.3 to 4.9 µg.kg -1 , 0.6 to 18 µg.kg -1 and 0.3 to 7.4 µg.kg -1 respectively. Robusta Coffee brands are the most contaminated, follo w by coffee mixture brands and Arabica coffee brands. The daily intake of OTA is 0.065 ng / kg bw per day. Consumption of OTA fro m coffee in the cities of Douala and Yaounde are then very lo w compared to that of Europe who is 2-3 ng/kg bw per day. Consumption of OTA fro m coffee in the cities of Douala and Yaounde is very low co mpared to that of Europe, for wh ich the rate is 2-3 ng/kg bw per day.