Evaluación de la ocurrencia natural de ocratoxina a en quinua (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) cultivada en la provincia de Chimborazo.

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the natural occurrence of Ochratoxin A in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) grown in the province of Chimborazo in three cantons according to the needs of each exporting organization and the climatic conditions of each zone. They were Riobamba, Guamote and Colta. Based on the regulation (EC) N° 401/2006, an analysis unit size of 2 kg was estimated for a total of 49 samples. Once the samples were obtained, they were sent to the L-SAIA laboratory for analysis. The OTA analysis was based on the method validated by Moreno (2022 pp. 41 - 46), which is based on the official method AOAC 2004.10. The moisture analysis was carried out following the official method NTE INEN 1235 (1987, pp.2-3) and for the water activity analysis the "dew point" method was used. Based on the results of the analyses, the moisture and aw of the quinoa samples did not show significant differences (P less than 0.05), obtaining for moisture and aw average values of less than 8% and 0.4. In the OTA analysis, only one contaminated sample was obtained in the canton of Colta with 51.38 µg/kg which is higher than the maximum level allowed (5 µg/kg). A natural incidence of OTA of 2% for the province of Chimborazo was stablished, therefore it is recommended to perform a microbiological analysis in addition to the analysis of occurrence of OTA in the production and processing of quinoa from Chimborazo.