TY - JOUR
T1 - Risks for human health related to the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in honey, tea, herbal infusions and food supplements
AU - Knutsen, Helle Katrine
AU - Alexander, Jan
AU - Barregård, Lars
AU - Bignami, Margherita
AU - Brüschweiler, Beat
AU - Ceccatelli, Sandra
AU - Cottrill, Bruce
AU - Dinovi, Michael
AU - Edler, Lutz
AU - Grasl-Kraupp, Bettina
AU - Hogstrand, Christer
AU - Hoogenboom, Laurentius (Ron)
AU - Nebbia, Carlo Stefano
AU - Oswald, Isabelle P.
AU - Petersen, Annette
AU - Rose, Martin
AU - Roudot, Alain-Claude
AU - Schwerdtle, Tanja
AU - Vleminckx, Christiane
AU - Vollmer, Günter
AU - Wallace, Heather
AU - Ruiz Gomes, José Angel
AU - Binaglia, Marco
AU - EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM)
N1 - The Panel wishes to acknowledge all European competent institutions, Member State bodies and other organisations that provided data for this scientific output.
Adopted: 21 June 2017
PY - 2017/7
Y1 - 2017/7
N2 - EFSA was asked by the European Commission to deliver a scientific opinion on the risks for human health related to the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in honey, tea, herbal infusions and food supplements and to identify the PAs of relevance in the aforementioned food commodities and in other feed and food. PAs are a large group of toxins produced by different plant species. In 2011, the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) assessed the risks related to the presence of PAs in food and feed. Based on occurrence data limited to honey, the CONTAM Panel concluded that there was a possible health concern for those toddlers and children who are high consumers of honey. A new exposure assessment including new occurrence data was published by EFSA in 2016 and was used to update the risk characterisation. The CONTAM Panel established a new Reference Point of 237 μg/kg body weight per day to assess the carcinogenic risks of PAs, and concluded that there is a possible concern for human health related to the exposure to PAs, in particular for frequent and high consumers of tea and herbal infusions. The Panel noted that consumption of food supplements based on PA‐producing plants could result in exposure levels causing acute/short‐term toxicity. From the analysis of the available occurrence data, the CONTAM Panel identified a list of 17 PAs of relevance for monitoring in food and feed. The Panel recommended continuing the efforts to monitor the presence of PAs in food and feed, including the development of more sensitive and specific analytical methods. A recommendation was also issued on the generation of data to identify the toxic and carcinogenic potency of the PAs commonly found in food.
AB - EFSA was asked by the European Commission to deliver a scientific opinion on the risks for human health related to the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in honey, tea, herbal infusions and food supplements and to identify the PAs of relevance in the aforementioned food commodities and in other feed and food. PAs are a large group of toxins produced by different plant species. In 2011, the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) assessed the risks related to the presence of PAs in food and feed. Based on occurrence data limited to honey, the CONTAM Panel concluded that there was a possible health concern for those toddlers and children who are high consumers of honey. A new exposure assessment including new occurrence data was published by EFSA in 2016 and was used to update the risk characterisation. The CONTAM Panel established a new Reference Point of 237 μg/kg body weight per day to assess the carcinogenic risks of PAs, and concluded that there is a possible concern for human health related to the exposure to PAs, in particular for frequent and high consumers of tea and herbal infusions. The Panel noted that consumption of food supplements based on PA‐producing plants could result in exposure levels causing acute/short‐term toxicity. From the analysis of the available occurrence data, the CONTAM Panel identified a list of 17 PAs of relevance for monitoring in food and feed. The Panel recommended continuing the efforts to monitor the presence of PAs in food and feed, including the development of more sensitive and specific analytical methods. A recommendation was also issued on the generation of data to identify the toxic and carcinogenic potency of the PAs commonly found in food.
KW - pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA)
KW - origin
KW - chemistry
KW - analysis
KW - exposure
KW - risk assessment
KW - margin of exposure
U2 - 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4908
DO - 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4908
M3 - Article
SN - 1831-4732
VL - 15
JO - EFSA Journal
JF - EFSA Journal
IS - 7
M1 - e04908
ER -