In Benguet, Philippines, efforts have been made to improve the production of high quality Arabica coffee beans (Coffea arabica). However, defects in coffee beans may still occur during post-harvest processing. Since defective coffee beans decrease the quality of coffee brews, they are commonly consumed in the municipality as beverage and are not sold commercially. In this study, the incidence of fungal and ochratoxin A contamination, in green and roasted immature and black defective coffee beans were investigated. Furthermore, the antioxidant properties of defective coffee beans were evaluated using a radical scavenging assay and metal chelating assay. It was found out that green coffee bean samples were contaminated with ochratoxigenic fungi and ochratoxin A. Roasting the green coffee bean samples decreased their total phenolic content, but increased their radical scavenging and metal chelating activities. The antioxidant activities, however, were statistically lower than standard antioxidants such as L-ascorbic acid, gallic acid and ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (ρ
Key words: antioxidant, Arabica coffee, defective coffee beans, fungal contamination, ochratoxin A
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