2023-07-11 17:00:00
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The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) has issued a statement warning of the presence of atropine and scopolamine in a batch of gluten-free cookies with chocolate chips from the French brand Gerblé that has been distributed throughout the national territory.
As reported by AESAN, it was the company itself that detected these substances during a routine control of production and notified the competent health authorities to ensure the withdrawal of the product and prevent its sale.
However, they make available to the consumer the information related to the affected lot and recommend avoiding its consumption. The data is the following:
Product name: Gerblé gluten-free. Cookies with chocolate chips.Brand name: GerbléType of packaging: Cardboard packageLot number: 51914913Expiration date: 09/20/2023Unit weight/vol: 150g
“People who have products affected by this alert at home are recommended to refrain from consuming them”
What are these substances and what effects does their consumption have?
The atropine and scopolamine are two naturally occurring antimuscarinic drugs classified as alkaloids that, when introduced into the body, produce anesthetic reactionsin sufficient quantities, anticholinergic toxic syndrome.
These substances affect the central nervous system, muscles, digestive and circulatory systems, and the respiratory system.
For this reason have medical uses ranging from the treatment of diseases to their use in interventions and tests. Nevertheless, have also been used as submission drugs for criminal purposes.
Los most notable effects after involuntary consumption they include blurred vision, dizziness and nausea, disorientation, hallucinations, memory loss, sedation and slurred speech, fever and tachycardia, among others.
In general, most alkaloids They are extracted from the leaves, seeds, roots or fruits of some plants such as tobacco, tea, coffee, aconite, belladonna, or hemlock. Other well-known alkaloids are, for example, cocaine, morphine, dopamine, nicotine and caffeine.
As for scopolamine and atropine, Jimson weed is one of the plants with a high content of these alkaloids, which makes it both medicinal and toxic.
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Scopolamine, more commonly known as burundanga, It is one of the substances with a sedative effect that is usually detected in victims of sexual crimes and robberies for inhibition of will or chemical submissionas are alcohol, benzodiazepines or GHB -liquid ecstasy- among others.
Its involuntary consumption is usually produced by ingestion and it acts quickly in the body, causing the aforementioned effects, which can vary depending on the dose, even causing death in the worst case.
Finding toxic substances of this type in a food product, considering the adverse effects it produces in the body, has set off alarm bells at the health level in order to prevent its sale.
THE CASE OF GERBLÉ
Despite the health alert caused by the presence of these substances in a food product, it should be noted that there is a possible relatively simple explanation to this event.
Alkaloids can be found in foods derived from certain cereals because they occasionally their crops are contaminated by Jimson weed seeds, difficult to remove manually. Many of these cereals are used specifically for produce gluten-free foodas it happens with Teff Flour.
Given the the presence of these chemical contaminants in food is common have already been studied and regulated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
In addition, and as reported by the RASFF (European Food Alert Network), despite the level of risk that this type of alerts suppose, still there have been no effects from its consumption in relation to this case.
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