Rapid liquid chromatographic determination of patulin in apple juice

A rapid method is described for the quantitative determination of patulin in apple juice. The mycotoxin is extracted from the sample with ethyl acetate and the extract is cleaned up by extraction with a sodium carbonate solution. Patulin is determined by reverse phase liquid chromatography using a muBondapak C18 column and a 254 nm ultraviolet detector. The lower detection limit in patulin standard solution is 0.32 ng and recovery is greater than 75%.