Abstract Cereals and cereal- derived products
constitute the base of human and animal feeding
in South American countries. This review attempts
to give an overview of the ochratoxin A
(OTA) occurrence and potential sources of OTA
contamination in those products. The environmental
conditions as humidity and temperature in
the colonization of the substrates by Aspergillus
section Nigri isolated from corn kernels were also
discussed. The available information on the ochratoxigenic
mycoflora and OTA presence in corn,
corn based food and feed is limited. Only few
surveys have been carried out in Argentina,
Ecuador and Brazil; which showed that Aspergillus
niger aggregate and A. ochraceus species