Over a nine-year period during screening campaigns in villages where Balkan nephropathy is endemic, human blood samples were collected and analysed for ochratoxin A. The incidence of positive samples was 0.5-2.5%. Dried beans were found to be more frequently contaminated with the toxin than other food commodities. In view of a specific accumulation of ochratoxin A observed in eggs, more attention should be paid to contamination of this food with ochratoxin A.