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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Food and Feed Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #100076
Title: TOXICOLOGY OF NATURALLY OCCURRING CHEMICALS IN FOOD

Author
item Beier, Ross
item NIGG, HERBERT - UNIV OF FLORIDA

Submitted to: Foodborne Disease Handbook
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/1999
Publication Date: 11/15/2000
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: This review discusses the toxicology of naturally occurring toxicants and provides concentration levels typically found in foods. The chemical nature and toxicology of components found in cyanogenic foods, citrus, crucifers, fruits and vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, nightshades, nitrate containing plants, parsleys, oxalate containing plants, sweet potatoes, tannin containing plants, and some mycotoxins are discussed. The constituents of white snakeroot, the plant that caused the death of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, are discussed. The phytoalexin response of food plants also is discussed, and its involvement to potentiate toxic episodes in humans. Many of the plants that have phytoalexin responses are the main toxic offenders. A large body of information exists on natural toxicants in foods; however, in most cases, the chemical and toxicological information for each particular food is not adequate to understand the full implication of its natural toxicant(s).