The Effect of Tonsil clay on the reduction of patulin amount in apple juice

Patulin is a mycotoxin produced by various species of fungi, especially Penicillium and Aspergillus. Most of these fungi grow on rotten fruits, especially apples, pears, grapes and peaches. The global standard for the presence of this substance in apple juice and other juices is about 50 ppb. Measuring the amount of this mycotoxin is important because patulin has a wide range of toxicities, including carcinogens that can have adverse health effects. Due to the stability of the molecule, a significant amount of patulin is still present in apple products. Research on the healing properties of apples and their products has increased due to its healing properties and increasing popularity among consumers. Meanwhile, concerns about the contamination of apples with patulin toxin have led to increased monitoring of crop production and the use of appropriate methods to reduce this toxin. The aim of this study was to investigate the reduction of patulin in apple juice by cheap mineral soil of Tonsil.

In order to reduce the amount of patulin in the samples, tonsil clay with amounts of 1, 2 and 5 g/l was added to apple juice at 5, 15 and 30 minutes at room temperature to reduce the amount of toxin. Patulin amount was examined by HPLC method.

The results showed that tonsil clay as an adsorbent with high adsorption capacity reduces the amount of patulin well. With increasing the concentration of tonsil clay and its effect time, the amount of patulin in apple juice decreases significantly and reaches close to zero. The results of using tonsil clay with values of 1, 2 and 5 g/l with impact times of 5, 15 and 30 minutes show that using the lowest amount of tonsils (1 g/l) with the lowest impact time (5 minutes) patulin is reduced to less than half.

After performing the mentioned experiments and reviewing the result obtained from the HPLC device, we conclude that the tonsil clay has the ability to absorb the patulin of apple juice and its ability should be increased according to the amount and duration of use. In general, the amount of patulin in apple juice can be easily and accurately determined using the method mentioned in this report. This method is recommended in juice factories to reduce the amount of patulin and show the current quality of apple juice in terms of the amount of patulin.