Incidence of patulin in apple juices marketed in Paraná state, Brazil

MARCOS GIOVANI CELLI; ELISABETE YURIE SATAQUE ONO; ELISA YOKO HIROOKA; ALEXANDRE RODRIGO COELHO; CRISPIN HUMBERTO GARCIA-CRUZ; GILVAN WOSIACKI

São José do Rio Preto - São Paulo

Jornada; VI Brazilian Meeting on Chemistry of Food and Beverages; 2006

Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP

Patulin is a mycotoxin produced as secondary metabolite by various Penicillium and Aspergillus species, including Penicillium expansum, the apple-rotting fungus. It has been shown to have high toxicity for plant and animal cells and tissues. Nevertheless, several European countries have set a regulatory limit of 50 µg/L in apple juice and the World Health Organization has recommended the same limit. On the other hand, since it is associated with spoiled fruits and is only partially destroyed by processing, the patulin content is considered a good indicator of the quality of the fruits used as raw material for the processing of juice. This survey was therefore carried out to verify patulin incidence in fruit juices marketed in Parana, Brazil. Thirty eight samples of processed apple juices and produced and marketed in Brazil, were analysed for patulin by HPLC. Separations were performed on C18 column of 5 mm diameter (Trennsäule). The mobile phase was acetonitrile/water (5:95), and the flow rate was 1.5 mL/min; the elution was monitored by UV absorption at 275 nm. Under these conditions patulin has a retention time of 7.4 min. Patulin was not detected in samples of apple juice. According to the results obtained, patulin does not seem to be a problem with fruit juices, including apple juice, marketed in Parana, Brazil, suggesting that the raw material used for processing is apparently of good quality. Since 75% of the fruit juices was sulphited, as permitted by Brazilian regulation, the low incidence of patulin may also be due to sulphur dioxide which was reported to decrease patulin concentration. The effect of sulphiting merits further investigation.