Saatbau

Tropane alkaloids are natural, secondary plant substances that can lead to symptoms of poisoning even in relatively small quantities when ingested with food. High concentrations of this poison can be found in white datura and black henbane, which occur as weeds in arable crops such as millet, maize and soy. In recent years, datura in particular has become widespread in large areas of Austria. It is not only the highly toxic seeds that are collected during harvesting, the sap of the datura plants, which escapes from the combine harvester and spreads over the harvested crop, is much more problematic. This results in invisible contamination. Product recalls in 2019 due to contamination with tropane alkaloids have led to increased awareness among food processors and raw material traders.
With the Wels University of Applied Sciences, we have found a partner who can work on this problem in a scientifically sound manner. The UAS has the appropriate analytical equipment and know-how to enable us to learn more about the behavior of tropane alkaloids in the preparation and the various processing steps of edible soybeans. The aim is to understand the topic along the entire value chain and to use this knowledge to minimize the risk of contamination in the end product.