Skip to content

National Institute of Research and Development for Biological Sciences

Integrated analytical approach for identification of tropane alkaloids-producing plants and assessing their contamination level in herbal teas

Description

The ConTrAl project is based on a significant body of data and studies that highlight the susceptibility of herbal teas to contamination with tropane alkaloids (TA), toxic compounds with major implications for product quality and consumer safety. Accidental contamination with tropane alkaloids is a critical problem, requiring the urgent development and implementation of rapid and efficient analytical methods to identify the presence of these toxins. Excessive exposure to tropane alkaloids has been associated with severe toxic effects. The most common route of unintentional ingestion of tropane alkaloids is the consumption of contaminated food, including herbal teas, as a result of accidental harvesting of raw materials together with plant species containing these toxic compounds. In this context, ConTrAl aims to develop, test and apply innovative analytical solutions for the detection of plant species producing tropane alkaloid-producing plant species, as well as to obtain robust analytical data on the presence of these compounds in herbal teas.