Abstract
Tropane alkaloids (TAs) are natural toxins produced by different plants, mainly from the Solanaceae family. The interest in TAs analysis is due to the serious cases of poisoning that are produced due to the presence of TA-producing plants in a variety of foods. For this reason, in recent years, different analytical methods have been reported for their control. However, the complexity of the matrices makes the sample preparation a critical step for this task. Therefore, this review has focused on (a) collecting the available data in relation to the occurrence of TAs in foods for human consumption and (b) providing the state of the art in food sample preparation (from 2015 to today). Regarding the different food categories, cereals and related products and teas and herbal teas have been the most analyzed. Solid–liquid extraction is still the technique most widely used for sample preparation, although other extraction and purification techniques such as solid-phase extraction or QuEChERS procedure, based on the use of sorbents for extract or clean-up step, are being applied since they allow cleaner extracts. On the other hand, new materials (molecularly imprinted polymers, mesostructured silica-based materials, metal–organic frameworks) are emerging as sorbents to develop effective extraction and purification methods that allow lower limits and matrix effects, being a future trend for the analysis of TAs.
Highlights
Tropane alkaloids (TAs) are secondary metabolites produced by various plant species, mainly belonging to the Solanaceae family, in addition to a variety of other families (Brassicaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Convulvulaceae) [1,2,3]
Due to the food alerts in recent years, maximum concentration levels have been regulated for food products likely to be contaminated with TAs, such as processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children, unprocessed or processed millet, sorghum, maize, maize for popping, buckwheat and herbal infusions
Cereals and related products has been the food category most extensively analyzed within the last years, whereas the highest TAs levels have been found in teas and herbal teas
Summary
Tropane alkaloids (TAs) are secondary metabolites produced by various plant species, mainly belonging to the Solanaceae family, in addition to a variety of other families (Brassicaceae, Erythroxylaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Convulvulaceae) [1,2,3]. The occurrence of TAs has been mainly studied in tea (black, green, red) and in other herbal teas such as peppermint, chamomile and rooibos, among others [25,26,27] In some of these products, positive samples exceeded the 25 μg/kg of TAs (as the sum of At and Sc) established as maximum level by the Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1408 in dried products for herbal infusions (50 μg/kg in anise seeds) [15].
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