Tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea): a source of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in summer honey? | Jakobs-Kreuzkraut (Senecio jacobaea): eine Ursache für Pyrrolizidin-Alkaloide im Sommerhonig?

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are secondary plant compounds, which may be carried into honey by honey bees (Apis mellifera) and thus enter the human food chain. Depending on the quantity consumed, PAs are considered harmful to human health. At present, however, there is no statutory limit for PAs in foodstuffs. Because of several hints that larger occurrences of PA-containing tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) may be responsible for PAs in summer honeys, honey samples from regions with and without tansy ragwort from all across Schleswig-Holstein were tested for their PA content (28 individual PAs) by LC-MS/MS analysis in 2014. By including honey samples from surroundings of flower plots established on arable land, it was tested if the carry-over of PAs into honey can be reduced by “distraction feed”. Samples from regions with tansy ragwort showed significantly higher PA contents than those from regions without tansy ragwort. Flower plots had no significant influence on the PA content. PAs were detected in 53.5 % of the 86 honey samples investigated. The mean PA value of PA-positive honeys was much higher than the median value since the sample comprised only few high and many low values. 28.6 % of the detected PAs were not from Senecio species, but from the Borage family (Boraginaceae) or Hemp Agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum). In 2.3–15.1 % of the samples the limit value recommended by the BfR (Analytik und Toxizität von Pyrrolizidinalkaloiden sowie eine Einschätzung des gesundheitlichen Risikos durch deren Vorkommen in Honig. Stellungnahme Nr. 038/2011 des BfR vom 11. August 2011, ergänzt am 21. Januar 2013. Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung [Hrsg.], Berlin: 37 S, 2013a) for different eating habits was exceeded. Because of the potential risk to human health, beekeepers and users of land with larger occurrences of tansy ragwort should take joint measures to keep the PA load in summer honeys as low as possible.