Motahare Khammar, Parisa Sadighara, Gholamreza Jahed-Khaniki, Ebrahim Molaee-Aghaee,
Volume 18, Issue 2 (9-2025)
Abstract
Background and objective: Given the harmful effects of Ochratoxin A on living organisms—particularly humans—and its potential to cause various severe health outcomes, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the concentration of Ochratoxin A in cocoa and cocoa-based products.
Materials and Methods: After reviewing and searching for keywords including Ochratoxin A, cocoa, and meta-analysis, 17 studies were ultimately selected from an initial pool of 1,482 articles published between 2016 and 2022. The selection was carried out through four screening stages using international databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, and ScienceDirect, as well as search engines like Google Scholar and SID. The results and data were analyzed using meta-analysis methods in STATA version 17.
Results: The average concentration of Ochratoxin A reported in studies from various continents and countries was 2.461 µg/kg. The highest average concentration was observed in the Americas (3.16 µg/kg), while the lowest was reported in Asia (2.13 µg/kg). By publication year, the highest concentration was recorded in 2018 (4.5 µg/kg), and the lowest in 2022 (0.95 µg/kg). Among analytical methods, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) reported the highest average concentration of Ochratoxin A, at 3.11 µg/kg.
Conclusion: The concentration of Ochratoxin A has shown a decreasing trend, which may be attributed to the implementation of preventive measures and strategies to inhibit its production or reduce its levels on farms. Additionally, the LC method demonstrated greater detection sensitivity compared to other analytical techniques.
