A b s t r a c t A s e n s i t i v e h i g h -p e r f o r m a n c e l i q u i d chromatography-UV (HPLC-UV) method, based on the Association of Analytical Communities (AOAC) Official method 2000.02, was developed and validated for the highthroughput analysis of patulin in in vitro experiments on apple puree agar medium (APAM). The importance of repeating the ethyl acetate extraction step at liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was examined, as well as the extent of patulin degradation during the sodium carbonate clean-up. In addition to this alkaline clean-up, the efficiency of using an Oasis HLB or C 18 cartridge as solid-phase extraction (SPE) clean-up was compared. This resulted in a two-step ethyl acetate LLE, followed by an Oasis HLB SPE clean-up, without alkaline clean-up conditions. The method was fully validated for APAM, cloudy apple juice, and apple puree. Average patulin recoveries at levels of 100, 500, and 1000 μg kg −1 of APAM varied between 95 and 113 % over 3 independent days, with an interday precision (RSD R ) of 5 to 10 %. Recovery experiments carried out with the spiked apple juice (at 50 μg kg −1 ) and apple puree (10 μg kg −1 ) showed average recovery rates laying between 80-101 % (RSD R = 12 %) and 77-100 % (RSD R =9 %), respectively. This method offered a detection limit of 3-4 μg kg −1 and a quantification limit of 5-8 μg kg −1 for APAM, apple juice, and puree.