Ew. Sydenham et al., THE INFLUENCE OF DECK STORAGE AND INITIAL PROCESSING ON PATULIN LEVELS IN APPLE JUICE, Food additives and contaminants, 14(5), 1997, pp. 429-434
Patulin, a secondary metabolite produced by Penicillium expansum and s
ome other fungal species, is a common contaminant of ripened apples us
ed for the production of apple juice concentrates. The limited availab
ility of suitable storage facilities may result in fruit being subject
ed to storage in the open ('deck storarge') for extended periods of ti
me, prior to processing. A study was conducted to determine the influe
nce that deck storage and subsequent initial processing practices had
on patulin levels in freshly pressed juice. Over the study period, tri
plicate samples were collected at four strategic processing points fro
m individual consignments of Granny Smith apples deck-stored for 7, 15
and 33 days, respectively. Over the study period, mean patulin levels
in non-processed fruit increased from 90 to 2445 ng/g, respectively,
but decreased to between 75 and 695 ng/g, respectively, following a wa
ter wash step. Subsequent removal of rotten/damaged fruit decreased pa
tulin levels further (to between 55 and 405 ng/g, respectively), altho
ugh the numerical decreases between sampling points were not shown to
be statistically significant (P > 0.05). However, patulin levels were
significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the rejected rotten/damaged fruit (
mean levels ranged from 1120 to 6235 ng/g, respectively). P. expansum
was the major patulin-producing fungus isolated from the juice samples
. The mycological analyses tended to support the chemical data, in tha
t removal of the rotten/damaged fractions significantly reduced total
fungal counts in the juice samples.