Patulin in domestic and imported apple-based drinks in Belgium: occurrence and exposure assessment

Abstract

Apple-based beverages are regularly consumed by adults and children in Belgium. They are locally produced or imported from other countries. The apples used as starting material for these productions are frequently contaminated by mycotoxin-producing moulds and damaged during transport and handling. The current study was undertaken to investigate whether patulin (PAT) is present in the industrial or handicraft-made apple juices and ciders consumed by the Belgian population and to assess the population's exposure to this mycotoxin through apple-based drinks. Belgian (n = 29) and imported (14) apple juices as well as ciders (7) were assayed for PAT by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet light detection. PAT was detected respectively in 79, 86 and 43% of these tested samples. However, no contaminated sample exceeded the safe level of 50 microg PAT l(-1). Levels of PAT contamination were comparable in Belgian and imported juice samples. The overall mean PAT concentrations were 9.0 and 3.4 microg l(-1) for contaminated apple juices and ciders, respectively. This study also indicates that there was no statistically significant difference in the mean PAT contamination between clear (7.8 microg l(-1)) and cloudy (10.7 microg l(-1)) apple juices, as well as between handicraft-made apple juices (14.6 microg l(-1)) and industrial ones (7.0 microg l(-1)). On the basis of the mean results, a consumer exposure assessment indicates that a daily intake of 0.2 litres apple juice contributes to 45% of the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake for a child of 10 kg body weight.

Mycotoxin Contamination of Beverages: Occurrence of Patulin in Apple Juice and Ochratoxin A in Coffee, Beer and Wine and Their Control Methods

“…Patulin has been identified in apples and its products from various countries around the world, such as Canada [33], Chile [50], England [33,51], Finland [52], France [33,53,54], Spain [55][56][57], New Zealand [58], Netherlands [59], Sweden [60], USA [33,61,62], Turkey [63][64][65], Australia [66,67], Iran [68,69], Saudi Arabia [70], Argentina [71], Brazil [72][73][74][75][76], Japan [77], Italy [78][79][80], India [81], Austria [82], Belgium [83,84], Greece [85] and other countries, as presented in Table 1. …”

Potential of patulin production by Penicillium expansum strains on various fruits

“…However, the mycotoxin patulin has been detected in apple juice from various countries around the world, such as Australia (Burda 1992), Belgium (Baert et al 2006), Brazil (Iha and Sabino 2008), Chile (Canas and Aranda 1996), Denmark (Karlshoj et al 2007), France (Leblanc et al 2005), Iran (Cheraghali et al 2005), Italy (Spadaro et al 2007), Japan (Watanabe and Shimizu 2005), The Netherlands (Boonzaaijer et al 2005), South Africa (Shephard et al 2010), South Korea (Cho et al 2010), Spain (Prieta et al 1994), Turkey (Yurdun et al 2001), and the USA (Brackett and Marth 1979). Recent surveys on patulin reported it from apples and its products (Beretta et al 2000;Boonzaaijer et al 2005;Tangni et al 2003), whereas few reports are available on the occurrence of patulin in mixed juices containing apple and other fruit juices (Ritieni 2003). Piemontese et al (2005) analysed 57 samples of "other" juices, including fruit juices other than apple and pear and juices containing apple together with other fruit.…”

Ocorrência, aspectos toxicológicos, métodos analíticos e controle da patulina em alimentos

“…A produção de patulina pelo fungo ocorre nas partes danificadas do fruto, sendo que a intensidade de difusão dessa micotoxina é de 1cm em direção ao tecido sadio (TANIWAKI et al, 1992). Entretanto, RYCHLIK & SCHIEBERLE (2001) encontraram patulina a 2cm além do tecido deteriorado de maçãs.…”