Reduction of patulin in apple juice concentrates by using folic and pantothenic acids

Patulin is a mycotoxin mainly found in apples and apple products, and has become one of the most important quality criteria for apple juice. In most country the maximum level of patulin recommended concentration of 50 μg.L-1 for adult and 10 μg.L-1 for infants and young children, respectively. In this study, effects of adding different concentrations of folic and pantothenic acids, as well as effects of storage temperature and storage time on reduction of the patulin content and qualitative characteristics such as colour, clarity and turbidity of apple juice concentrate were investigated. The results indicated that by adding the folic and pantothenic acids to the samples with an initial patulin concentration of 170 μg.L-1 and storage temperatures of 5 °C and 27 °C, the mycotoxin content decreased to less than 50 μg.L-1. The storage of samples without any acids at these two temperatures is also an alternative to reducing the mycotoxin content if the storage period is increased which can reduce the other quality parameters of product. Addition of acid has a positive effect on reduction of patulin. However, these samples have the lowest amount of patulin, but they have the lowest transparency and highest turbidity. The highest transparency and lowest turbidity is related to the samples without acid and sample that contains pantothenic acid, 500 mg/kg in 5 °C with 10 days storage time, wich amount of patulin can be reduced by 71%.