Determination of patulin in apple juice

In this paper results of performed researches for patulin determination from apple juice, through high performance liquid chromatography are presented. Patulin is extracted in acetonitrile, and for cleanup of the obtained extract C.U. Patulin columns (MycoSep ® 228) were used. The obtained solution is evaporated to dryness under nitrogen and redissolved. Patulin is separated on chromatographic column C18, 150×4 mm, 5 μm (high performance liquid chromatograph, Thermo Finnigan), eluted in mobile phase (acetonitrile/water) and detected on 276 nm, using an UVVIS DIODE ARRAY detector. A study for validation method for patulin determination from apples juice, by high performance liquid chromatography was done. In concentration range 6.25–400 μg/L, the average recovery is 90.50%. The limit of detection (LOD) is 2.91 µg/L, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) is 9.71 µg/L. The contamination degree of apple juice from commerce, using high performance liquid chromatography, was evaluated. The level of patulin concentrations in apple juice samples analyzed is under 50 μg/L, the maximum allowed limit by the legislation in force: Commission Regulation of EC No 1881/2006.