An LC-MS/MS multi-method was developed to simultaneously quantify ergot alkaloids (EAs) and tropane alkaloids (TAs) in 113 cereal-based food for infants and young children. To assess yearly variation, samples were collected in 2011, 2012 and 2014. EAs were detected in 54% and TAs in 22% of the samples. Mean EA levels in the three sampling years were 10.6, 6.2 and 8.6 µg kg(-1), respectively (maximum: 115.4 µg kg(-1)), indicating that exposure to EAs would not have exceeded the health-based guidance values set by EFSA in 2012. Mean TA levels were 3.9, 2.4 and 0.4 µg kg(-1), respectively (maximum: 80.8 µg kg(-1)). The acute reference dose for TAs, derived by EFSA in 2013, would have been exceeded by young children when consuming some of the products sampled in 2011-2012. TA levels had decreased drastically in 2014, possibly due to measures taken by producers as response to the EFSA Opinion.
Keywords: LC-MS/MS; cereal-based food; ergot alkaloids; multi-method; tropane alkaloids; young children.