| Abstract
| - To evaluate the ochratoxin A risk in French vineyards, five winemaking regions were investigated.An exhaustive survey of the fungal microflora of 60 grape samples was carried out at two developmentstages of the berries: end of veraison and harvest time. Potentially toxinogenic fungi isolated fromgrapes were assessed in vitro for ochratoxin A production. Ochratoxin A was also quantified in mustsby high-performance liquid chromatography after cleanup on immunoaffinity columns. Among the 90species identified, almost half are listed as mycotoxin producers, but only 2 are potentiallyochratoxinogenic: Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus niger. Among these strains, only A.carbonarius, isolated from the Languedoc region at harvest time, was found to produce ochratoxinA. These results were in accordance with the presence of ochratoxin A in French southern regionmusts (0.01−0.43 μg/L) and confirmed the major implication of A. carbonarius in ochratoxin Acontamination. Keywords: Ochratoxin A; Aspergillus carbonarius; French vineyards; fungal microflora; grapes; musts
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