Occurrence of mycotoxin patulin in apple-based products marketed in Tunisia

An investigation on the presence of mycotoxin patulin was performed on 71 apple juices and concentrates and 21 infant fruit purees purchased from retail outlets or producers in Tunisia, by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using a C18 column with UV detection at 276 nm, keeping the recovery higher than 96% for spiking levels ranging between 30 and 100 ppb. The detection limit of the method was found to be 5 ppb. The findings showed that 12% of the samples locally produced in Tunisia were contaminated by patulin, with a maximum level of 6 ppb, and 5% of the samples imported and marketed in Tunisia were contaminated at a mean level less than 6 ppb. No detectable patulin contaminations for apple cider and infant fruit puree samples were found.