Year: 2013 | Month: June | Volume 3 | Issue 1
Occurrence of Patulin its Dietary Intake through Consumption of Apple and Apple Products and Methods of its Removal
Abstract: <div>Patulin (4-hydroxy-4H-furo [3,2c] pyran-2[6H]-one), a mycotoxin, is a secondary metabolite produced by a number of fungi, primarily Penicillium and Aspergillus species common to fruit and vegetable based products. Most notably apple is of major concern from food safety considerations. Patulin 1st discovered as an antibiotic but later on scientific community realised its negative health effects. It is classified as a group-3 carcinogen as there is no evidence of its carcinogenicity in humans but based on a long-term investigation in rats, the World Health Organization (WHO) has set a tolerable weekly intake of 7 ppb (µg/Kg) body weight. The maximum limit of patulin in foods is restricted to 50 ppb in many countries of the world. Conventional analytical detection methods involve chromatographic analyses, such as HPLC, GC and more recently techniques such as LC/MS and GC/MS. The risk associated with the patulin necessitates its control and ultimately removal from the food products. It has been detected in several apple products viz., apple juice, apple puree, apple wine, apple cider and</div><div>baby foods. The quantities range from 0.5 to 732.8 µg/L. Effort to understand the basic chemical and biological nature of patulin as well as interaction with the other food components are being made. It may occur in apples during harvest and postharvest stages. The principal risk arises when unfit/ rotten fruit is used for the production of juices and other processed products. Process stages and conditions of process may effect concentration of patulin. Nature of processing such as fermentation, heat treatment and clarification applications or additional steps of production line such as the use of</div><div>binding material can help in removing patulin from products or at least reduce its concentration employing low cost technology.</div>
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