Toxicological data needed for safety evaluation and regulation on inherent plant toxins

Although the awareness that natural compounds in foodstuffs can have implications for human health is growing, there is a lack of data on the toxicology and occurrence. To enable the safety evaluation of inherent plant toxins adequate toxicological data are necessary. Of most inherent plant toxins at best only limited toxicological data are available, which makes it impossible to perform an accurate safety evaluation. This limited knowledge of inherent plant toxins permits the mystical claim of safety on the basis of history of food use, and thus the development of specific food safety regulation has been postponed. To further develop flexible and adequate regulation, for at least some inherent plant toxins, an adequate set of toxicological data should be available in order to verify and validate the initial regulation. Several problems (e.g., availability of the plant toxin or accuracy of historical human toxicity data) which arise when gathering the necessary data and the development of regulations are discussed and elaborated with a few examples such as solanum alkaloids and glucosinolates. As long as nobody is held responsible to study safety aspects of inherent plant toxins, the lack of data will persist. Therefore a certain level of regulation should be recommended to provide the data needed. Such safety research projects integrated with new agricultural developments should be endorsed by the European Union and other international bodies.