Patulin, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), colour and clarity values of 20 apple juice samples with different Brix contents were determined after heat treatment (90 and 100°C for 5, 10, 15 and 20 min under atmospheric pressure) and evaporation (70 and 80°C for 5, 10, 15 and 20 min) processes. As the heating and evaporation times increased, the concentration of patulin in the apple juice samples decreased. The 90 and 100°C heat treatments resulted in reductions in patulin concentration of 18.81 and 25.99% respectively after 20 min; the corresponding values were 9.40 and 14.06% for 70 and 80°C evaporation respectively. The increase in HMF was higher with heat treatment than with evaporation. Evaporation decreased the colour values of the samples, whereas heat treatment increased them.

In this study, 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 g/l amounts of activated charcoal (AC) were added into apple juice with a patulin content of 62.3 ppb obtained from a well-established manufacturing company. Apple juice samples were then mixed for 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 min, respectively. Considerable reduction in the patulin and HMF values was found while there is a dramatic improvement in the colour and clearness of apple juice. However, AC did not cause a significant decrease in the fumaric acid level of apple juice. The best result was obtained at 3.0 g/l AC mixed for 5 min. In addition, a negligible reduction in brix and pH values of samples was observed.

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Dried figs of three different categories, palatable, fluorescent, and cull, were investigated for their contents of aflatoxins (B 1 , B 2 , G 1 and G 2 ), patulin, and ergosterol. Samples were obtained from four fig processing plants located in a major fig producing area in the Aegean Region in Turkey. Affinity column clean-up methods were employed for aflatoxins. All aflatoxins, patulin, and ergosterol were determined using high performance liquid chromatography. Palatable figs contaminated with trace amounts of aflatoxins, patulin, and ergosterol, so they posed no risk for the consumer when national and/or international regulatory limits were considered. Fluorescent figs were contaminated with high (117.9-471.9 ppb) aflatoxin levels and cull figs with high patulin (39.3-151.6 ppb) and ergosterol (4.5-18 ppm) levels. The total aflatoxins content was significantly correlated with the patulin content (r 2 ¼ 0.813, p < 0.002) and the ergosterol content (r 2 ¼ 0.920, p < 0.002) only in fluorescent figs. However there was no significant correlation between patulin and ergosterol contents of fluorescent figs. Furthermore, there were no significant correlations between the contents of any two of the three substances in cull figs. This is the first report on the presence of patulin and its co-occurrence with aflatoxin in dried figs.

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