Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Development of pyrrolizidine alkaloid detection methods for the assessment of food contamination and impact on human and animal health

Objective

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are more than 600 individual compounds that are hazardous for animals and humans if ingested. The 3% of the flowering plants produce these type of molecules and grow as weeds in agricultural production systems throughout the world where they can contaminate commonly consumed foods (eg. grain, milk, meat, eggs, honey, pollen). Chronic exposure to low concentrations of these alkaloids can be the cause of progressive, chronic disease (hepatic damage, vascular obstructive disease, and cancer) that may be difficult to attribute to their presence in food. The 2007 statement from the European Food Safety Authority calls to generate more quantitative data sets on pyrrolizidine alkaloids levels in milk and honey, and to determine which PA plants and/or marker PA need to be considered relevant in animal feed. In the same direction, this Authority pointed in 2011 that toxicological data for pyrrolizidine alkaloids commonly found in honey was needed. Even though some countries have regulated the concentration of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in herbs used in traditional medicines, a general European legislation regulating the concentrations of these alkaloids in food is still pending. The present project propose the use of state of the art technology (UPLC-Qtof-MS, antibody microarrays) to better understand the distribution of pyrrolizidine alkaloids producing plants in relation to food content, and determine the incidence of exposure to these molecules in humans and animals. The results will impact several levels of society, the scientific results will provide science legal advisors with solid data to better inform law makers in the regulation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in food, society will gain knowledge on the exposure to this type of molecules and on hazardous dietary habits, and food industry will benefit through the introduction of practices to avoid pyrrolizidine alkaloids containing components in food.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2014

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 183 454,80
Address
UNIVERSITY ROAD LANYON BUILDING
BT7 1NN BELFAST
United Kingdom

See on map

Region
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Belfast
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 183 454,80
My booklet 0 0