Black aspergilli and ochratoxin A production in French vineyards H. Bejaoui a , F. Mathieu a , P. Taillandier b , A. Lebrihi a, ⁎ a Laboratoire de Génie Chimique UMR5503 (CNRS-INPT-UPS), ENSAT/INPT: 1, Av. de l'Agrobiopôle BP32607, Auzeville-Tolosane, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, Cedex, France b Laboratoire de Génie Chimique UMR5503 (CNRS-INPT-UPS), ENSIACET/INPT: 5, rue Paulin Talabot, BP 1301, 31106 Toulouse Cedex 1, France Abstract A survey on the occurrence on grape of black Aspergillus species and their capability to produce ochratoxin A (OTA) was conducted in France over three years (2001–2003) in 10 vineyards from four winemaking regions with different geographical locations and climatic conditions. During 2001 and 2002, from setting to harvest, the total numbers of fungal isolates were respectively 721 and 711 increasing in 2003 to reach 1035. The Aspergillus genus was essentially represented by Section Nigri (99%) and it was predominant (80% ± 4.6) when compared to Penicillium (20% ± 4.6). Regardless of sampling year, 32.5% (± σ = 1.26) of the fungal isolates were OTA producers and 93% (± σ = 2.65) belonging to black aspergilli. The ochratoxigenic potential of the isolates and their occurrence on grapes revealed that Aspergillus carbonarius was the main OTA producer (up to 37.5 μg/g). At harvest time, the fungal population was maximal and this was the most critical period influencing OTA contamination. Grapes from Languedoc-Roussillon region were most infested with ochratoxigenic fungi and had the highest concentrations of OTA (up to 2.8 ng/g). Keywords: Ochratoxin A; Grapes; Black aspergilli; A. carbonarius; A. niger aggregate 1. Introduction In the last few years, ochratoxin A (OTA) has received increasing interest from both scientific communities and food committees because of its nephrotoxic (Krogh et al., 1974; Mortensen et al., 1983) teratogenic (Arora and Fröelén, 1981; Mayura et al., 1989), genotoxic (Dirheimer, 1998), immuno- suppressive (Haubeck et al., 1981; Creppy et al., 1983) and carcinogenic (Boorman, 1989) properties. Its ingestion by humans, which occurs mainly through different plant-based foods and beverages, could lead to deterioration of liver or kidney function (Sweeny and Dobson, 1998). Grapes and derived products such as dried vine fruit (MacDonald et al., 1999), grape juices and wines (Scott and Kanhere, 1995; Zimmerli and Dick, 1996; Jørgensen, 1998; Burdaspal and Legarda, 1999; Visconti et al., 1999; Otteneder and Majerus, 2000) have been reported as potentially contam- inated with OTA. Provisional estimates of the Codex Alimentar- ius Commission, based on limited European data, suggested that red wine is the second major source of human exposure to OTA, following cereals and preceding coffee and beer (Walker, 1999). Swiss authors were the first to detect OTA in table wines collected from various European countries (Zimmerli and Dick, 1996) and red wines had higher concentrations than white ones (Otteneder and Majerus, 2000). Genera Penicillium and Aspergillus raised particular attention as the source of OTA (Varga et al., 2001). Among the Aspergillus, the Section Nigri was responsible for OTA production (Cabaňes et al., 2002; Sage et al., 2002; Pechavy et al., 2003) and the species Aspergillus niger aggregate and Aspergillus carbonarius were considered to be particularly important (Abarca et al., 2001; Cabaňes et al., 2002). According to different surveys grape products from the Mediterranean regions of South Europe (Burdaspal and Legarda, 1999; Battilani et al., 2003; Belli et al., 2004) and North Africa (Filali et al., 2001) were the most contaminated by OTA. In France, two preliminary studies revealed the presence of OTA in samples of grapes, musts and wines recovered from the South (Ospital et al., 1998; Sage et al., 2002). This study was intended to assess the potential for ochratoxin A contamination of French grapes. It was done on a large sampling pattern of grapes recovered from different French vineyards in four winemaking regions with a variability of ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 5 62 193 944; fax: +33 5 62 193 901. E-mail address: lebrihi@ensat.fr (A. Lebrihi).