Detection of Ochratoxin A From Poultry Feed Using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography

One hundred poultry feed samples comprising of commercially produced poultry feed (48) and poultry feed compounded by farmers (privately milled) (52) were collected from farms located in Minna and analysed for Ochratoxin A (OTA), a member of group 2 possible carcinogen by High Pressure Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) method. Thirty seven percent of the commercial poultry feeds were contaminated with OTA at a range of 0 -236.73ug/kg while hundred percent of privately made feed were contaminated with OTA at a range of 22.76-226.5lug/kg. The finding of this investigation showed that 71% (71/100) of the sampled poultry feed has OTA concentrations which was far in excess of the maximum permissible limit of 5ug/kg (the European Union Standard). This is of serious health concern to the birds and humans that consume the poultry products.