A study being conducted in Ireland this year.
As part of a Food for Health Research Initiative (FHRI) funded jointly by two agencies; the Department of Agriculture & Food and the Health Research Board, we are investigating, in collaboration with Ashtown Food Research Centre (Teagasc), whether Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids (PAs), produced by Ragwort species, are entering the food chain.
For some time, scientists have known that the hepatotoxic alkaloids (PAs), known to occur in Tansy Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea L.), are also present in honey produced from the nectar of this species.
With the ever increasing occurrence of ragwort on Irish waste and pasture lands, this project wishes to determine whether Irish honey is becoming contaminated with trace levels of PAs toxins from nectar collected from Ragwort. If these compounds are detected in indigenous honey, our recommendations will be to eradicate this plant to ensure the sustainability of indigenous honey production.