Analysis of aflatoxins in rustically wines from eastern Romania using the direct real time method (DART)

¹ “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 3 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490 Iaşi, Romania
² Research Centre for Oenology, Romanian Academy Iasi Branch, 9 Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490 Iaşi, Romania

Abstract

Romania has a long tradition regarding the production of wine rustically or household products. Each householder has the possibility for making its own wine from its own grape vines. Most of them are made and kept using almost no interventions or treatments no corrections or added substances, which could protect them from eventual diseases, which may appear during the winemaking process. The grapes are collected manually by each family alone and it can be called is itself a ritual specific to the each area and a symbol of autumn. In this context, several samples of wine were collected from households located in five Romania eastern counties (Iaşi, Vaslui, Galaţi, Brăila, Ialomiţa and Tulcea). The samples were neither filtered, nor treated against the developing secondary fermentations. This fact increases the risk of infestation with mycotoxins. Twenty samples belonging to the aforementioned regions were analysed using the direct real time method (DART). This method is very fast and does not require any prior preparation of the samples. The goal was to identify the aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 that are known to be frequently present in wines. From the total of the analysed samples, in four of them it was detected a concentration greater than 20 μg/kg.