A. Hofmann, A. Romanotto, K. Speer**, K. Gassert***
**Technische Universität Dresden I Professur für spezielle Lebensmittel-chemie/ Lebensmittelproduktion
*** Teekampagne, Potsdam
Investigations of the German Federal Institute for Risk assessment (BfR) in 2009 demonstrated that various plant-based foods including tea exceed the residue limit of 0.01 ppm for nicotine according to regulation (EC) No 396/2005 [1]. Even the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) introduced a temporary limit of 0.6 ppm for nicotine in 2011, because the nicotine sources have been unknown [2]. The only plant with a significant nicotine content is tobacco (1 % in dry mass). Because India is simultaneously one of the five biggest producers of tea and tobacco in the world, we suspected a correlation between the tobacco cultivation and the nicotine contamination in Indian tea.
Therefore specific markers were established for identification of tobacco and tobacco smoke to proof the source of nicotine [3]. Various plant materials from the tea-growing area Darjeeling were examined with HPLC-MS/MS on nicotine, 3-vinylpyridin, cotinine, nornicotine and anabasine with a low LOQ.
The generated results indicate a relation of the contamination and cultivation as mentioned above. Nonetheless a clear correlation has to be confirmed in further studies.
Literature
[1] Paul-Hermann Reiser, „Nikotin in getrockneten Steinpilzen nachgewiesen,“ CVUA Sigmaringen, 13 11 2008. [Online]. Available: http://www.ua-bw.de/pub/beitrag.asp?subid=4&Thema_ID=2&ID=937. [Zugriff am 03 11 2017
[2] European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), „Setting of temporary MRLs for nicotine in tea, herbal infusions, spices, rose hips and fresh herbs,“ 04 03 2011. [Online]. Available: https://www.efsa.europa.eu/de/efsajournal/pub/2098. [Zugriff am 03 11 2017].
[3] A. Romanotto, A. Hofmann, K. Gassert, K. Speer, T. Heidorn, Identification of the main source of nicotine in Indian tea, lebensmittelchemie (food chemistry), 5-2018
[4] The Food and Agriculture Organization, „FAOSTAT,“ 15 12 2017. [Online]. Available: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC. [Zugriff am 15 02 2018].