Determination of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids in Herbs and Teas

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) constitute a class of compounds found in a wide variety of plant species in the world and are known to be harmful to both livestock and man. Worldwide, many episodes of PA poisoning have been reported and of particular concern to the population as a whole is the risk associated with the consumption of teas and herbal infusions that contain PAs. Furthermore, significant amounts of PAs may be present in some teas due to contamination from various weeds during growing and harvesting periods.

Here we present a robust LC/MS/MS method employing a simple dilute and shoot sample preparation protocol to determine PAs in teas, herbs and herbal infusions. This new method fulfills the EU 2020/2040 requirements for PA analysis that will be introduced on 01 July 2022 to amend the current European Commission No 1881/2006 (contaminants in foodstuffs) regulation.

Presenter: Jonathan Spencer (Application Specialist, Agilent Technologies)

Jonathan studied BSc Natural Sciences at the University of Nottingham, where he divided his studies between chemistry and biochemistry. He went on to study MSc Forensic Science at Sheffield Hallam University. Following graduation, he spent 2 years as a Confirmatory Analyst in an anti-doping and forensic toxicology lab, before joining Agilent as an LC-MS Applications Scientist. At Agilent, he focuses on small molecule mass spectrometry applications using LC-TQ and LC-QTOF instrumentation for food, forensic and environmental analysis applications.