Transfer of cannabinoids into the milk of dairy cows fed with industrial hemp could lead to Δ9-THC exposure that exceeds acute reference dose.

The industrial hemp sector is growing and, in recent years, has launched many novel hemp-derived products, including animal feed. It is, however, unclear to what extent individual cannabinoids from industrial hemp transfer from the feed into products of animal origin and whether they pose a risk for the consumer. Here we present the results of a feeding experiment with industrial hemp silage in dairy cows. Hemp feeding included changes in feed intake, milk yield, respiratory and heart rates, and behaviour. We combined liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based analyses and toxicokinetic computer modelling to estimate the transfer of several cannabinoids (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), Δ8-THC, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarin, 11-OH-Δ9-THC, 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-THC, cannabidiol, cannabinol and cannabidivarin) from animal feed to milk. For Δ9-THC, which has a feed-to-milk transfer rate of 0.20% ± 0.03%, the acute reference dose for humans was exceeded in several consumer groups in exposure scenarios for milk and dairy product consumption when using industrial hemp to feed dairy cows.

Introducing the Rapid Alert Supply Network Extractor (RASNEX) tool to mine supply chain information from food and feed contamination notifications in Europe.

BACKGROUND: During food or feed contamination events, it is of utmost importance to ensure their rapid resolution to minimize impact on human health, animal health and finances. The existing Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) is used by the European Commission, national competent authorities of member countries and the European Food Safety Authority to report information on any direct or indirect human health risk arising from food or feed, or serious risks to animal health or the environment in relation to feed. Nevertheless, no methods exist to to collectively evaluate this vast source of supply chain information. METHODS: To aid in the extraction, evaluation and visualization of the data in RASFF notifications, we present the Rapid Alert Supply Network Extractor (RASNEX) open-source tool available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4322555 freely. Among RASNEX's functions is the graphical mapping of food and feed supply chain operators implicated in contamination events. RASNEX can be used during ongoing events as a support tool for risk analysis using RASFF notifications as input. RESULTS: In a first use case, we showcase the functionality of RASNEX with the RASFF notification on a 2017/2018 contamination event in eggs caused by the illegal use of fipronil. The information in this RASFF notification is used to visualize nine different flows of main and related food products. In a second use case, we combine RASFF notifications from different types of food safety hazards (Salmonella spp., fipronil and others) to obtain wider coverage of the visualized egg supply network compared to the first use case. Actors in the egg supply chain were identified mainly for Italy, Poland and Benelux. Other countries (although involved in the egg supply chain) were underrepresented. CONCLUSIONS: We hypothesize that biases may be caused by inconsistent RASFF reporting behaviors by its members. These inconsistencies may be counteracted by implementing standardized decision-making tools to harmonize decisions whether to launch a RASFF notification, in turn resulting in a more uniform future coverage across European food and feed supply chains with RASNEX.