The apple juice sample is extracted with ethyl acetate and the extract is cleaned up by elution from a silica gel column with ethyl acetate-benzene. Patulin is determined by use of a liquid chromatograph, a 25 cm Zorbax-Sil column, and a 254 nm ultraviolet detector. This method has a lower detection limit of 11 μg/L with recoveries of patulin added to apple juice >85%. Gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of the acetate derivative is used for confirmation. Patulin was detected at levels ranging from 44 to 309 μg/kg in 8 of 13 commercial samples of apple juice.