Determination of patulin in solid and semisolid apple and pear products marketed in Argentina

Patulin is an important index of quality and several methods are described for apple juice, but there is a lack of information about other products. The aim of this study was to implement an analytical method for solid and semisolid apple and pear products marketed in Argentina to evaluate patulin contamination. This method used a depectinization step and rapid clean-up with (SPE) Multisep (R) 228 AflaPat multifunctional columns. The results showed that 21.6% of 51 products were contaminated (range 17-221 mu g/kg, average of positive samples 61.7 mu g/kg), but the highest levels were found in apple puree with 50% contaminated samples (average of positive samples 123 mu g/kg). Efforts to decrease patulin on apple puree should be made. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.