A preliminary study on patulin contamination in spirit drinks

A total of 120 spirit drinks and 40 apple juices were collected between 2018 and 2020 in three regions of Turkey and analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA) for the incidence of patulin. The analytical method was successfully validated for both matrices. In 26.7% of apple juice samples, patulin was quantified at levels between 5.8 and 66.4 µg L^-1. Only one regulatory level exceedance was identified for apple juice. The mean dietary exposure of the adult population to patulin ranged from 0.083 to 0.091 ng kg^-1 bw day^-1. With the HPLC-PDA method, patulin was measured in quantifiable concentrations in 11 out of 25 cognac, 5 out of 40 liqueur, and 1 out of 10 whisky samples, up to a level of 42.6 µg/l, whereas all vodka samples were free from patulin. In only one liqueur sample, the presence of patulin could be confirmed with LC-MS/MS, at a level of 8.9 µg L^-1.