Ochratoxin A Contamination in Italian Wine Samples and Evaluation of the Exposure in the Italian Population CARLO BRERA,* FRANCESCA DEBEGNACH,VALENTINA MINARDI, ELISABETTA PRANTERA,ELENA PANNUNZI,SILVIA FALEO,BARBARA DE SANTIS, AND MARINA MIRAGLIA Italian National Institute for Health (ISS), Veterinary Public Heath and Food Safety Department, GMO and Mycotoxins Unit, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy The scope of this study was to evaluate the exposure of the Italian population to ochratoxin A (OTA) attributable to wine consumption. With this aim 1166 wine samples (773 red wines, 290 white, 75 rose ´ , and 28 dessert wines), collected in 19 different Italian regions and mostly produced between 1988 and 2004, were analyzed for OTA content. The obtained results are reported by year of harvest, geographical area of production, and type of wine. Red wine showed the highest maximum level of contamination (7.50 ng/mL), even though rose ´ wines were characterized by a higher mean value (0.01 ng/mL). A gradually increasing mean concentration was also observed from the north (0.05 ng/mL) to south of Italy (0.54 ng/mL). Exposure calculations, performed using two different consumption databases, indicate a daily intake for consumer only of 0.59 up to 1.24 ng/(kg of b.w.)/day and of 0.33 up to 0.90 ng/(kg of b.w.)/day for the total population. Even in the worst case, corresponding to the calculation of the intake for consumers only in southern Italy and Islands and considering the mean consumption data increased by 1 standard deviation, a quite low exposure (1.68 ng/(kg of b.w.)/day, accounting for 9.8% of TDI) was obtained. Considering the overall OTA dietary exposure, obtained exposure rates indicate that wine did not pose a risk to the Italian population health. KEYWORDS: Ochratoxin A; wine; daily intake INTRODUCTION Ochratoxin A (OTA), (-)-N-[(5-chloro-8-hydroxy-3-methyl- 1-oxo-7-isochromanyl)carbonyl]-3-phenylalanine, consists of a p-chlorophenolic moiety containing a dihydroiso-coumarin group that is amide-linked to L-phenylalanine. It is a natural contaminant of foods, drinks, and feeds worldwide (1-3). Ochratoxin A is a potent nephrotoxic, teratogenic, and immu- notoxic agent and exerts its toxic effect particularly on the renal system, being a potent renal toxin in all of the tested animal species. It induces a typical karyomegaly and a progressive nephropathy. The extent of renal injury is dose-dependent, but is also associated with the duration of exposure, as OTA accumulates in renal tissue. It has also been identified in other tissues, and because of its long half-life in mammalian tissues, contamination may also carry over into pork edible food products and blood of animals fed by contaminated feed (4-7); in addition, OTA has also been detected in human blood and breast milk (8-10). Serum half-lives after oral administration of OTA were 510 h in one monkey, 72-120 h in pigs, 55-120 h in rats, 24-39 h in mice, and 4.1 h in chickens. In one human volunteer, half-life was 840 h (about 35 days) (11). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified OTA as a possible human carcinogenic (group 2B) (5). OTA genotoxicity has been debated for a long time with pros and cons about this issue (12-18). The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) opinion of April 2006 (19) evidenced the lack of the existence of OTA-DNA adducts despite the availability of advanced chemical analytical proce- dures. Therefore, a threshold-based approach in the EFSA risk assessment of OTA was used, with the opinion that it would be prudent to reduce exposure to OTA as much as possible, setting a new Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) of 120 ng/kg of b.w., corresponding to an increase of the daily tolerable amount of about 3-fold compared to the previous threshold set by the Scientific Committee for Food in 1998. Depending on the climatic conditions of the geographical areas worldwide, OTA is produced by a wide number of fungal species basically belonging to the genera Aspergillus (Aspergil- lus ochraceus and Aspergillus carbonarius spp) and Penicillium (Penicillium Verrucosum)(20). The main dietary sources of OTA are cereals, followed by wine, spices, coffee, grape juice, dairy products, cocoa, beer, dried fruits, and pulses (1) with cereals accounting for 50% of the overall human intake with diet. * Corresponding author. E-mail: carlo.brera@iss.it. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2008, 56, 10611–10618 10611 10.1021/jf8016282 CCC: $40.75  2008 American Chemical Society Published on Web 10/22/2008