Rapid Detection and Quantification of Patulin and Citrinin Contamination in Fruits

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 26; no. 15; p. 4545
• Main Authors: Sadhasivam, Sudharsan, Barda, Omer, Zakin, Varda, Reifen, Ram, Sionov, Edward
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 27-07-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Agricultural commodities; Apples; Citrinin; Communication; Contamination; Experiments; Fruits; Fungi; High performance liquid chromatography; HPLC; Liquid chromatography; Methods; mycotoxin detection; Mycotoxins; Patulin; pome fruits; Quality assessment; Quality control; Regulation; Toxins
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules26154545

Patulin (PAT) and citrinin (CTN) are the most common mycotoxins produced by Penicillium and Aspergillus species and are often associated with fruits and fruit by-products. Hence, simple and reliable methods for monitoring these toxins in foodstuffs are required for regular quality assessment. In this study, we aimed to establish a cost-effective method for detection and quantification of PAT and CTN in pome fruits, such as apples and pears, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with spectroscopic detectors without the need for any clean-up steps. The method showed good performance in the analysis of these mycotoxins in apple and pear fruit samples with recovery ranges of 55–97% for PAT and 84–101% for CTN, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) of PAT and CTN in fruits were 0.006 µg/g and 0.001 µg/g, while their limits of quantification (LOQ) were 0.018 µg/g and 0.003 µg/g, respectively. The present findings indicate that the newly developed HPLC method provides rapid and accurate detection of PAT and CTN in fruits.