TITLE:
Influence of Fermentation and Drying Practices on the Ochratoxin A Content of Cocoa Beans from the Main Production Areas in Côte d’Ivoire
AUTHORS:
Brou Julien Kouakou, Kouadio Emmanuel N’goran, Koffi Christophe Kobenan
KEYWORDS:
Ochratoxin A, Cocoa Beans, Fermentation, Drying Practices, Cote d’Ivoire, Mycotoxins, HPLC Analysis, Fungal Contamination, Post-Harvest Operations, Food Safety
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Microbiology,
Vol.15 No.1,
January
30,
2025
ABSTRACT: Côte d’Ivoire has been the world’s leading producer of cocoa beans for several decades. Apart from this production performance, the quality of the beans, which are mainly exported to the major chocolate-making countries, presents a quality problem to the point of suffering a discount on the international market. One of these quality problems is the content of ochratoxin A, a mycotoxin produced by fungi. Finally, to verify the level of contamination in beans produced in Côte d’Ivoire, a study was carried out. It consisted of collecting information on fermentation and drying times (The two major post-harvest operations) and collecting beans, which were analyzed by electrophoresis using the High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method. The results obtained show ochratoxin A contents of between 0.05 µg/kg and 0.17 µg/kg. The general level of contamination is therefore very low and below the tolerable limit which is 2 µg/kg. In addition, the correlative study between the fermentation and drying times of the beans revealed no significant influence (p