Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Abstract

Ergosterol and Patulin Contents of Conventional and Homemade Red Peppers and Hot Red Peppers Pastes

Nurten Yassihuyuk, Cetin Kadakal and Mustafa Otag

In this study; ergosterol and patulin contents of homemade and conventional pepper paste and hot paprika paste were determined and the relationships between these substances were investigated. Patulin and ergosterol were determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). A limiting value of 15 mg.kg^-1 ergosterol has been proposed as an index of acceptable quality for tomato products. Ergosterol content of the 13 homemade pepper pastes were found to be lower than 15 mg.kg^-1 while 8 of these over limits. In contrast, for the ergosterol content, only one of the homemade hot pepper pastes was over proposed limit while all of the conventional hot pepper pastes were lower than limits. In addition, patulin contents of all conventional and homemade pepper pastes were lower than the allowed level of 50 μg.kg^-1. Patulin content was significantly correlated with the ergosterol content in conventional and homemade paprika paste as 0.90 and 0.96, respectively.