Updated EFSA advice reiterates pyrrolizidine alkaloids warning

31 Jul 2017 --- The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has updated its advice to reconfirm that being exposed to pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food, in particular for frequent and high consumers of tea and herbal infusions, could be a long-term health concern for human health due to their potential to cause cancer.

The updated warning comes as a result of a scientific report on “Dietary exposure to PAs in the European population” approved by EFSA on 13 July 2016. The original 2011 report by the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) had concluded that exposure to pyrrolizidine alkaloids from pollen, tea, herbal infusions and herbal dietary supplements could potentially present a risk of both acute and chronic effects in the consumer.

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are a large group of toxins produced by different plant species that can unintentionally enter the food chain. Consuming food supplements based on pyrrolizidine alkaloid-producing plants could also lead to exposure levels causing short-term toxicity, resulting in adverse health effects.

EFSA’s advice resulted from a request from the European Commission to assess the human health risks related to the exposure to pyrrolizidine alkaloids from honey, tea, herbal infusions and food supplements estimated in the 2016 EFSA Technical Report. In addition, the European Commission requested an opinion on the pyrrolizidine alkaloids of relevance in the aforementioned foods and other feed and food on the basis of the newly available occurrence data.

The EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) updated the risk characterization performed in its scientific opinion published in 2011. This was done while considering an updated reference point and the most recent exposure levels calculated in the EFSA report of 2016 considering data in honey, teas, herbal infusions and food supplements.

The toxicity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in humans has been recorded in a series of case reports of intoxication following ingestion of herbal medicines and teas containing them, according to the EFSA report. Outbreak cases have included deaths associated with the consumption of grain contaminated with weeds containing the toxins. Short-term toxicity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids includes liver and lung as the main target organs, and in particular, it is associated with the onset of hepatic veno-occlusive disease (HVOD), a result of a toxic injury to liver sinusoids.

EFSA has therefore updated its 2011 advice on the risks for human and animal health from pyrrolizidine alkaloids. In 2011, it concluded there were possible long-term health concerns for toddlers and children who are high consumers of honey. Thanks a lack of data on the presence of the toxins in foods other than honey, the CONTAM panel was not able to quantify dietary exposure from foods other than honey.

The European Commission requested the updated risk assessment, which considers exposure estimated by using more recent data on the levels of these toxins in honey, tea, herbal infusions and food supplements.

EFSA’s experts found 17 pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food and feed that should continue to be monitored, which led to the further studies on the toxicity and carcinogenicity of those most commonly found in food.