Occurrence of fungi and their mycotoxins in individual Turkish dried figs

Fifty individual figs which had been rejected as potentially contaminated by sorting under UV light were separately analysed to identify the presence of fungi and their mycotoxins. Aflatoxin B-1 was found in 49 samples with levels ranging from 0.7 to 222 ng g(-1), with 40 individual figs containing more than 2 ng g(-1), indicating the efficacy of the UV screening process in identifying contaminated fruit. Ochratoxin A (OTA) was found in 32 of the figs at levels from 0.4 to 1710 ng g(-1), with 50% of the samples containing levels above 1 ng g(-1). There was no evident correlation between levels of aflatoxin B-1 and levels of OTA. Twenty fungal species were isolated from the outer and inner surfaces of the figs, some of which were subsequently cultured on YES and PDB and the media analysed for the presence of aflatoxin B-1 and OTA to establish their toxigenicity.