Occurrence of Patulin in Fruit Products Produced or Imported in Greece (Preliminary Results)

Introduction: Patulin is a mycotoxin produced by a variety of molds, in particular, Aspergillus, Penicillium and Byssochlamys. Patulin exhibits a number of toxic effects in animals and its presence in food is undesirable. Most commonly found in rotting apples, thermal processing of apple juice appears to cause only moderate reductions in patulin levels. The food safety authorities (EFSA, FDA, Codex) have set a maximum limit for patulin of 50 μg/kg in fruit juices and in drinks containing apple juice or derived from apples. For solid apple products, such as apple puree, the limit is 25 μg/kg.

Purpose: To test the patulin content in fruit products in the frame of compliance with the food safety regulations. 

Methods: A total of 105 commercial fruit products, including 83 juices (67 concentrated and 16 ready to drink juices), and 22 solid fruit products (20 puree and 2 jam samples), either produced by Greek companies (36 samples) or imported (48 from Turkey and 21 from other countries) during the period 2010-2015, have been analyzed for patulin occurrence. The accredited HPLC method was used with liquid/liquid partition clean-up (based on EN 14177 European Standard).

Results: Fifty (50)% of the samples had patulin concentrations higher than 5 µg kg⁻¹, which is the limit of quantification. However, the level of contamination was relatively low with 34% of the samples having patulin concentrations <25 µg kg⁻¹, and only three samples exceeded the EU permitted level (50 µg kg⁻¹). There were no significant differences based on sample origin but there was a significant reduction in patulin concentration during the five year period.

Significance: Data of patulin occurrence in final fruit products contribute to risk assessment studies. The preliminary results showed that there is a trend of patulin reduction in recent years indicating the adaptation of GAP for the prevention and reduction of patulin content in fruit products to finally meet the maximum permitted levels.