Herbal Tea Mixture with Echinacea Found to Contain
Atropine and Scopolamine
The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) has reported
two cases of herbal tea mixtures that were adulterated with atropine and
scopolamine. The first product, Loyd’s mint with rosehip and cranberry tea
(manufactured by Mokate S.A., Ustroń, Poland), contained 206.4 μg/g atropine
and 31.7 μg/g scopolamine.1 The second case involved an herbal tea
mixture with echinacea.2,3 Measured concentrations of atropine and
scopolamine were 72 μg/g and 23 μg/g, respectively. While the CAFIA has not
released details of the case yet, an earlier investigation by a reporter
detected the two alkaloids in a sample of Babička Růženka’s echinacea with
seven herbs tea (also manufactured by Mokate S.A.).3 The reason for
the presence of these alkaloids is unclear, but contamination during harvest or
manufacturing is possible. Both products were withdrawn from the market. To our
knowledge, no adverse events were reported from people drinking these herbal
teas.
References
1.
Rapid Alert System
for Food and Feed (RASFF). Brussels, Belgium, European Commission. Available
at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/portal/?event=notificationDetail&NOTIF_REFERENCE=2016.1818. Accessed March 3, 2017.
2.
Rapid Alert System
for Food and Feed (RASFF). Brussels, Belgium, European Commission. Available
at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/portal/?event=notificationDetail&NOTIF_REFERENCE=2017.0239. Accessed March 3, 2017.
3.
Tuna J. Šok! Velký
test odhalil v čajích proti nachlazení pesticidy a toxický plevel [Shock! The
big test revealed pesticides and toxic weeds in tea for colds]. Zena In (online). Published November 29, 2016. Available at:
http://zena-in.cz/clanek/sok-velky-test-odhalil-v-cajich-proti-nachlazeni-pesticidy-a-toxicky-plevel. Accessed March 3, 2017.
