DIN EN 15890:2010-12

Patulin is produced by the mold species Penicillium, Aspergillus, Byssochlamis and Paecilomyces variotii and is detected in pomaceous fruit which has started to go bad. It has a hemorrhagic effect on the organism. As a cytotoxin it interferes with the respiratory chain. The mycotoxin can cause sickness, gastritis and damage to the liver if higher doses are taken. The WHO has suggested a patulin limit of 0,05 mg/kg in foodstuffs. Thus, a Europe wide harmonized method for the determination of patulin is indispensable in order to assure health related consumer protection. This European Standard is intended to specify a method for the determination of patulin in fruit juices and fruit-based puree, such as baby food fruit-based puree. The method uses high performance liquid chromatography with ultra-violet detection (HPLC-UV). Using naturally contaminated and spiked samples this method has been validated for the determination of patulin in apple juice, at levels ranging from 3,0 µg/kg to 15,5 µg/kg, and in fruit-based baby food puree, at levels ranging from 3,4 µg/kg to 17,9 µg/kg. Baby food fruit-based puree used in this study contained a mixture of the following ingredients commercially available on the European market: blueberry, apple, banana, lemon, wheat biscuits, wheat syrup, whole milk, and vegetable oil. Patulin is extracted from apple juice, or fruit-based puree, with a mixture of ethyl-acetate and hexane in the presence of sodium sulfate and sodium hydrogen carbonate. An aliquot of the extract is purified by solid-phase extraction and evaporated. The residue is re-dissolved in water of pH = 4 and the analyte is separated by reverse phase (RP)-HPLC and quantitatively determined by UV detection. The European Working Group responsible for this standard is WG 5 "Biotoxine" ("Biotoxins") of CEN/TC 275 "Food analysis - Horizontal methods" (secretariat: DIN). The responsible German committee is Working Committee NA 057-01-03 AA "Biotoxine" ("Biotoxins") of the Food and Agricultural Products Standards Committee (NAL).