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Patulin

A mould toxin in rotting apples, and in apple juice made from damaged fruit.

In the body: A mould toxin: in animal studies, high doses irritated the gut and harmed the kidneys and the immune system.

Not rated by dose: a flag on 2 reviewed foods, among them Fuji apples and Pears, raw.

Builds up over time. Agencies set an amount you can take in every week, or every day, for life. A food measured against it shows the grams that reach it.

All hazards

The limit

  • The agency’s figure0.4 µg/kg body weight/day
  • For a 70 kg adult28 µg a day
  • Basisprovisional tolerable daily intake (pTDI): what you can take in every day for life, until better evidence arrives
    provisional tolerable daily intake (pTDI) (JECFA), as stated by Health Canada
  • Source Health Canada 2011

Reviewed foods that carry it

2 reviewed foods carry it; none is rated by dose.

Grams to the limit

No reviewed food here has a measured level yet, so none has a gram figure. The limit is shown, ready for the first measurement; each line below says what the food is flagged for.

Named above but not among the foods we review, so no line below: apple juice.

  1. Apple (Fuji), raw

    Not rated yet for a 140 g serving

    No gram figure for this food
    We have no measurement of this in this food, so there is no gram figure.

    Health Canada, List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances… · grade B

    How it’s rated

    Not rated: no measured level for sound apples has been found. Reference: JECFA provisional tolerable daily intake 0.4 µg/kg body weight/day (28 µg/day at 70 kg), as stated by Health Canada. Handling advice: in 35 mouldy apples the visibly unspoiled tissue had a median of 1.91 µg/kg and a maximum of 5,020 µg/kg, so cutting out the rot does not remove the toxin.

    Intake: one 140 g serving a day, 70 kg adult

    Measured on: no agency occurrence data for whole apples found; Canada limits only apple juice and unfermented cider (50 ppb)

  2. Pears, raw

    Context for a 140 g serving

    No gram figure for this food
    Shown for context, not rated by dose: “How it’s rated” says why, so there is no gram figure here.

    PubMed 613910 · grade C

    How it’s rated

    Shown as context, not rated: patulin comes from Penicillium decay in damaged or rotten pome fruit. The reference limit of 0.4 µg/kg body weight/day is not applied because no intact-pear concentration was found; the only data are a 1977 survey (about 120 samples) of apples and pears with brown rot, with patulin in about half. A pear with visible rot is not the food as eaten.

    Intake: not applicable (context)

    Measured on: Apples and pears with brown rot, 1977 survey (about 120 samples); patulin in about half

Sources