Assessing pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food

Publication date: 31-01-2026
Extent: 42 pages

Contributions by: Natalia Casado, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain; Florian Kaltner, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany; Begoña Fernández-Pintor and Sonia Morante-Zarcero, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain; and Isabel Sierra, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and Instituto de Investigación de Tecnologías para la Sostenibilidad, Spain

Chapter synopsis:

Food control of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) is currently in the spotlight of human health risk assessment due to their widespread presence in our daily diet. Within the last years, food alerts about concerning levels of these alkaloids in food have notably increased, due in part to improvements in their control. The EU regulation of PAs in certain foods is quite recent and has already undergone several updates. Therefore, increasing progress in the assessment of these compounds is needed to ensure food safety and comply with regulatory requirements. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of PAs, including their contamination pathways, current regulation and evolution of their food alerts, highlighting the main contaminated products as far as they are currently known. Likewise, it gathers relevant analytical strategies for the assessment of PAs in food (2018-2024). Information about how food processing can influence the content and stability of these alkaloids is also included.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2025.172.27