SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUSSE, TUNISIA
14-17 NOVEMBER 1995.
The Workshop was conducted at the School of Medicine, University of Sousse (Tunisia) 14-17 November 1995. Dr J Marc Fremy (Centre National d'Etudes Veterinaires et Alimentaires, Paris, France) and Prof Douglas L Park (Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA) both members of the IUPAC Chemistry and Environment Division, Commission on Food Chemistry (VI.5), submitted a grant application through IUPAC and ISCU to UNESCO. Additional funds were obtained from FAO and IARC/WHO. The Workshop provided a training programme of on-site personnel ("Training the trainer") for the establishment of a food safety programme for ochratoxin. Ochratoxin A (OTA), a potent nephrotoxic, carcinogenic and hepatotoxic mycotoxin produced by several fungal species, can contaminate human foods and animal feeds as a result of the currently unavoidable invasion by the moulds mainly during improper storage of the product. In the Balkan countries (Bulgaria, Romania and ex-Yugoslavia), ochratoxin has been implicated in a human disease known as the Balkan Endemic Nephropathy (BEN). BEN is characterised by high incidences of end stage renal failure and/or tumors of the urinary tract. Recent studies have reported similar disease symptoms and ochratoxin metabolites in blood from patients in Tunisia and Algeria. Fifteen participants from 7 countries including Tunisia (9), Egypt (1), Ivory Coast (1), Morocco (1), Congo (1), Guinea Bissau (1), and Senegal (1), attended the Workshop. The training programme provided information through a series of lectures on fungal growth and OTA production in cereal grain, occurrence of OTA in plant and animal products, preventative measures, toxicity and metabolism of OTA, analytical methods review, sampling procedures, regulatory limits, de-contamination protocols, good laboratory quality assurance and international programmes. Laboratory "hands-on" training for specific analytical procedures applicable to products of affected regions were provided. Specific analytical procedures studied included immunochemical method test kit for OTA detection, TLC method with physiochemical clean-up for OTA determination in cereals, HPLC and TLC method with immunoaffinity chromatography clean-up for OTA determination in cereals and animal tissues as well as HPLC procedure for OTA residues determination in blood. At the end of the Workshop, guidance and recommendations for the establishment of a monitoring programme and preventative measures were set. The local organisation was perfectly directed by Prof M Jemmali from the School of Medicine, Sousse (Tunisia) in a very friendly atmosphere. Further contacts and assistance to the participants will be provided for the application of these measures.