Q. What do you mean by Patulin?
It is a toxic and antibiotic metabolite produced by several species of Penicillin, Aspergillus and Paeciliomyces but the most important in the context of human food production is P. expansum, a soft rot pathogen of apple and pears. Patulin is unsaturated lactose and is sensitive to sulphur dioxide and is unstable in alkali but stable in acid.