Scientific Study

This study aimed to determine the changes in mould and ochratoxin A (OTA) occurrence in sultanas under three different conventional drying conditions. Five different vineyards were chosen, and the three different treatments were applied to these grapes while drying. At the end of the drying process, total mould and black aspergilli (BA) populations in the samples varied from 2.45 to 5.61 log colony-forming units (CFU) g-1 and from 0 to 4.92 log CFU g-1, respectively. Significant increases (p<0.05) occurred in mould loads depending on the extending drying period. However, independent of vineyard location, all of the samples treated with cold dipping solution showed the lowest fungal loads. These results indicate that dipping solution treatment was the most effective drying method to minimize fungal infection of grapes. The expected results could not be achieved by drying grapes artificially contaminated with ochratoxigenic Aspergillus carbonarius spores. Seventy-one of 96 isolates (73.95%) obtained during drying were Aspergillus spp., and the remaining (n=25, 26.05%) belonged to other genera, such as Penicillium, Trichoderma and Cladosporium. Grape juice-based agar medium was used to determine the realistic OTA production capacities of the isolated mould strains. The highest OTA production capacities were 809.70±9.19, 87.58±16.89 and 45.44±18.78 ng/g in 50% grape juice agar (GJ50), all 5 of which were from A. niger isolates. OTA was not present in any sample during the drying period; however, OTA was detected in two samples at 0.32±0.15 and 0.52±0.36 µg kg-1 after the end of the drying process. The Limit of Detection (LOD) and Limit of Quantitation (LOQ) of the method used for detecting OTA in samples were 0.1 and 0.3 µg kg-1, respectively.