Behaviour and reduction of ochratoxin A in green coffee beans in response to various processing methods.

摘要

As a consequence of unfavourable harvests, processing conditions, or unsuitable transport and storage conditions, unprocessed food and food products may contain ochratoxin A (OTA); this substance has been found on green coffee beans imported by thecoffee roasting industry. Existing technologies for quality control, selection and/or treatment of green coffee beans (e.g. colour sorting, roasting, polishing, steaming, solvent treatment) were evaluated in order to assess whether they were effective in reducing levels of this mycotoxin. Results showed that decaffeination of beans with solvents significantly reduced OTA levels; results also confirmed previous reports that coffee roasting and extraction (in the case of soluble coffee) led to a reduction in levels of OTA.