Developments in the Monitoring of Patulin in Fruits Using Liquid Chromatography: an Overview

Abstract

Patulin is a mycotoxin that exhibits a number of toxic effects in animals. The main sources of patulin intake in human diet that was shown for EU consumers are apple juice and nectar and for this reason, apple-based food is most often monitored for this mycotoxin. However, the presence of patulin in other fruits, including stone fruits, and soft fruits has been reported as well. Most of them are seasonal, suitable for consumption for short time, and are usually processed in order to be commercially available throughout the year. Patulin can also be generated during food storage and remains stable over food processing procedures. Therefore, constant monitoring of different fruit-based products ought to be carried out to provide proper estimation of human exposure to this toxin. The preferred approach used for mycotoxin determination in a variety of foods is liquid chromatography (LC) allowing quantitative analysis of patulin content. This paper presents recently proposed LC methods with ultraviolet and mass spectrometric detection for patulin quantification in fruits and derived products. We focus on developments in sample preparation and the applied analytical conditions.

Critical Assessment of Mycotoxins in Beverages and Their Control Measures

“…Washing of fruits and discarding of rotten portions are two primary low-cost practices used by the industries to eliminate the incidence of PAT in manufactured fruit products such as fruit juices and concentrates, jams, and apple-based drinks [ 39 ]. PAT is degraded by the fermentation reaction during cider or wine manufacturing processes [ 40 ]. PAT is associated with subacute and acute toxicity and chronic symptoms.…”

Revisiting the scope and applications of food enzymes from extremophiles

“…In another study, the use of pectinases to simultaneous degrade pectin and remove patulin toxins from fruit juices has been reported (Sadok, Stachniuk, & Staniszewska, 2019). However, to date the removal efficiency of patulin is rather low (i.e., less than 5% during clarification of apple juice (Bissessur, Permaul, & Odhav, 2001) and 28% in industrial apple juice (Welke, Hoeltz, Dottori, & Noll, 2009).…”

Patulin in Apples and Apple-Based Food Products: The Burdens and the Mitigation Strategies

“…Likewise, pectin with its high abundance is also regarded as an interferer when the extraction and chromatographic separate of patulin from apple products is conducted [ 94 ]. Although the inclusion of an enzymatic hydrolysis step is a commonly practiced depectinization approach, such a treatment can result in a significant under estimation of patulin and lower recovery rates of patulin due to the formed pectin hydrolysate [ 95 ]. Moreover, an interaction of patulin and approximately 20% proteins occurred in cloudy apple juice, where bound patulin was formed and was difficult to extract using organic solvents [ 96 ].…”