Scientific opinion about patulin occurrence in apple juices

Results from three years monitoring (2014 – 2016) of mycotoxin patulin occurrence in apple juice were obtained by Croatian Food Agency (HAH) and summarized in this scientific opinion.
In total there were 122 samples which contained 5 samples (4,1 %) above maximum permitted levels and 26 samples (21,3 %) in which patulin was quantified at average concentrations: 6,61, 8,57 and 10,54 μg/kg (depending on scenarios used for dealing with left-censored data). Data on consumption of apple juices were obtained from National food consumption survey in Republic of Croatia which determined an average consumption of 66 g/day (0,88 g/kg b.w./day). For the purposes of dietary exposure assessment of consumers to patulin, the “Improrisk” (a model built in MS Excel) was used. Calculations obtained from “Improrisk” showed that no consumer exceeded the toxicological limit, i.e. established Provisional maximum tolerable daily intake, PMTDI for patulin of 0,4 μg/kg b.w. Worst case scenario, which uses “Scenario 3” (all values reported as below limit of quantification were replaced by their respective limit of quantification) and exposure at 95th percentile, estimated exposure of 0,025 μg/kg b.w., which is 16 times lower than PMTDI for patulin. Therefore, it was concluded that risk from patulin was negligible. Croatian Food Agency, based on its records of monitoring results published “Code of practice for the prevention and reduction of patulin contamination in apple juice and apple juice ingredients in other beverages”. This code of practice is for all stakeholders, but mainly for manufacturers as an education tool about measures which can be taken during manufacture, processing and storage of apples and apple products.
KEY WORDS
patulin, mycotoxins, apple juices, risk assessment, Improrisk