Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), P.O. Box 6121, 13083-862 Campinas, SP, Brazil; LAQV-REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Bromatology and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal.
LAQV-REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Bromatology and Hydrology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal.
Food Res Int. 2021 Jun;144:110322. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110322. Epub 2021 Mar 22.
Herbal infusions are amongst the world's most popular and widely enjoyed beverages, due to both large variety and convenience. However, natural contaminants, such as mycotoxins and trace elements can accumulate in aromatic herbs, which may have serious food safety and public health implications. In this study, the presence of mycotoxins, as well as the content of trace elements was evaluated in herbs and herbal infusions commercialized in Brazil. For the determination of fourteen mycotoxins, including the emerging mycotoxins enniatins (EN), beauvericin (BEA), and sterigmatocystin (STE), a liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was validated. Overall, 42 out of 58 herb samples (72%) were contaminated, being BEA the most usual mycotoxin, present in 43% of the samples, followed by STE and HT-2 toxin, present in 37% and 24% of the samples, respectively. In herbal infusions, the occurrence of mycotoxins was 88% lesser than those verified in raw products. Despite these low levels, the hazard quotient (HQ) calculated revealed a potential health concern for HT-2 in infusions. The margin of exposure values for aflatoxins (AF), and ochratoxin A (OTA) from six herbal infusions were below 10,000, indicating also potential health risks. The twenty-one trace elements comprising toxic elements such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) were determined in herb raw materials by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The levels of trace elements in herbs were very varied, with aluminum (Al) presenting the highest amount. The levels of legislated elements (As, Cd, Pb) analyzed in herbs were lower than 3.03 µg g (Pb), thus not exceeding the legal limits defined for herbal medicinal by both European and Brazilian pharmacopeia.
草药浸剂是世界上最受欢迎和广泛享用的饮料之一，这归因于其种类繁多和使用方便。然而，天然污染物，如霉菌毒素和痕量元素，可能会在芳香草药中积累，这可能对食品安全和公共健康产生严重影响。在这项研究中，评估了巴西市售草药和草药浸剂中霉菌毒素的存在情况以及痕量元素的含量。为了测定 14 种霉菌毒素，包括新兴霉菌毒素恩镰孢菌素（EN）、 beauvericin（BEA）和单端孢霉烯族毒素（STE），建立了一种液相色谱-串联质谱（LC-MS/MS）方法。总体而言，58 种草药样本中有 42 种（72%）受到污染，其中 BEA 是最常见的霉菌毒素，存在于 43%的样本中，其次是 STE 和 HT-2 毒素，分别存在于 37%和 24%的样本中。在草药浸剂中，霉菌毒素的发生频率比原始产品中低 88%。尽管这些含量较低，但计算得出的危害商数（HQ）表明 HT-2 在浸剂中可能对健康造成潜在危害。从六种草药浸剂中得出的黄曲霉毒素（AF）和赭曲霉毒素 A（OTA）的暴露量值低于 10,000，这也表明存在潜在的健康风险。电感耦合等离子体质谱法（ICP-MS）测定了草药原料中的 21 种痕量元素，包括砷（As）、镉（Cd）和铅（Pb）等有毒元素。草药中的痕量元素含量差异很大，其中铝（Al）的含量最高。分析的草药中法规规定元素（As、Cd、Pb）的含量低于 3.03µg g（Pb），因此未超过欧洲和巴西药典为草药药物规定的法定限量。
