{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,6]],"date-time":"2025-12-06T08:50:05Z","timestamp":1765011005316,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"PAGEPress Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756857600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Ital J Food Safety"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Colchicine poisoning in livestock presents a significant challenge for dairy farming, particularly in regions where Colchicum autumnale (autumn crocus) is prevalent in pastures. This case report describes an incident on an organic dairy farm in Eastern Switzerland where Brown Swiss cattle showed clinical signs after consuming freshly mown meadow forage containing autumn crocus leaves. The ingestion of this highly toxic plant led to severe effects such as apathy, hypothermia, and reduced milk production, which required immediate veterinary intervention. As colchicine was expected to be secreted in the milk, the milk supplier imposed a delivery stop based on European Commission Regulation (EU) No 37\/2010, excluding the use of colchicine as a pharmacologically active substance in food-producing animals. Using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, it was shown that a bulk milk sample taken 2 weeks after the poisoning event tested positive, while a further bulk tank milk sample collected 5 weeks after the incident tested negative. Milk deliveries were then resumed. This paper further reviews the current understanding of colchicine as a chemical hazard in milk and presents a toxicological assessment, which is crucial for setting a detection limit for methods aimed at detecting colchicine in milk, given the absence of maximum limits and withdrawal periods following exposure. This study contributes to raising awareness of colchicine as a milk safety concern and to improving the monitoring of toxic plant exposure in livestock management (from feed to food concept).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4081\/ijfs.2025.13828","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T11:16:15Z","timestamp":1756898175000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["&lt;i&gt;Colchicum autumnale&lt;\/i&gt; poisoning in a dairy farm in Switzerland: a glimpse at the milk safety aspect"],"prefix":"10.4081","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-2289-9364","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Karen","family":"Barmettler","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Adrian","family":"F\u00e4h","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hanspeter","family":"Naegeli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8164-9263","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sandra N.","family":"Poetzsch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Simone","family":"Weisser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roger","family":"Stephan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2549","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"192482","unstructured":"Chizzola R, Bassler-Binder G, Winter S, Zebeli Q, Kriechbaum M, 2015. Persistence of alkaloids of typical poisonous plants autumn crocus and marsh ragwort in grass silage. Wiener Tier\u00e4rztliche Monatsschrift 102:285-92."},{"key":"192483","unstructured":"Chizzola R, Janda P, 2002. Intoxication of sheep by autumn crocus in the hay. Wiener Tier\u00e4rztliche Monatsschrift 89:4-7."},{"key":"192484","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cortinovis C, Caloni F, 2015. Alkaloid-containing plants poisonous to cattle and horses in Europe. Toxins 7:5301-7.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins7124884"},{"key":"192485","unstructured":"European Commission, 2010. European Commission Regulation (EU) No. 37\/2010 of 22 December 2009 on pharmacologically active substances and their classification regarding maximum residue limits in foodstuffs of animal origin. In: Official Journal, L 15\/1, 20\/01\/2010."},{"key":"192486","unstructured":"European Commission, 2019. European Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2019\/1871 of 7 November 2019 on reference points for action for non-authorized pharmacologically active substances in foodstuffs of animal origin and repealing Decisions 2005\/34\/EC. In: Official Journal, L 290\/1, 07\/11\/2019."},{"key":"192487","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Finkelstein Y, Aks SE, Huston JR, Juurlink DN, Nguyen P, Dubnov-Raz G, Pollak U, Koren G, Yedidia B, 2010. Colchicine poisoning: the dark side of an ancient drug. Clin Toxicol 48:407-14.","DOI":"10.3109\/15563650.2010.495348"},{"key":"192488","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Giorgetti A, Nalesso A, Cecchetto G, Pizzi M, Bellan A, Viel G, Montisci M, 2019. Two fatal intoxications by colchicine taken for saffron. Clinical, medico-legal and forensic toxicological implications. Leg Med 38:64-8.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.legalmed.2019.04.003"},{"key":"192489","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hamscher G, Priess B, Nau H, Panariti E, 2005. Determination of colchicine residues in sheep serum and milk using high-performance liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization ion trap tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Chem 77:2421-5.","DOI":"10.1021\/ac048668+"},{"key":"192490","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Imazio M, Andreis A, Brucato A, Adler Y, De Ferrari GM, 2020. Colchicine for acute and chronic coronary syndromes. Heart 106:1555-60.","DOI":"10.1136\/heartjnl-2020-317108"},{"key":"192491","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Izzo L, Rodr\u00edguez-Carrasco Y, Tolosa J, Graziani G, Gaspari A, Ritieni A, 2020. Target analysis and retrospective screening of mycotoxins and pharmacologically active substances in milk using an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography\/high-resolution mass spectrometry approach. J Dairy Sci 103:1250-60.","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2019-17277"},{"key":"192492","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kaltner F, Hamscher G, 2025. Colchicine as a food contaminant: rare occurrence but persistent in stored honey and during yogurt fermentation. J Consum Prot Food Saf https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00003-025-01541-z.","DOI":"10.1007\/s00003-025-01541-z"},{"key":"192493","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kiffe M, Christen P, Arni P, 2003. Characterization of cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of different compounds in CHO K5 cells with the comet assay (single-cell gel electrophoresis assay). Mutat Res 537:151-68.","DOI":"10.1016\/S1383-5718(03)00079-2"},{"key":"192494","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kupper J, Rentsch K, Mittelholzer A, Artho R, Meyer S, Kupferschmidt H, Naegeli H, 2010. A fatal case of autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) poisoning in a heifer: confirmation by mass-spectrometric colchicine detection. J Vet Diagn Invest 22:119-22.","DOI":"10.1177\/104063871002200125"},{"key":"192495","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Oliver SP, Larry Smith K, 1982. Milk yield and secretion composition following intramammary infusion of colchicine. J Dairy Sci 65:204-10.","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.S0022-0302(82)82178-4"},{"key":"192496","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Poutaraud A, Michelot-Antalik A, Plantureux S, 2017. Grasslands: a source of secondary metabolites for livestock health. J Agric Food Chem 65:6535-53.","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jafc.7b00425"},{"key":"192497","unstructured":"Rao R, Seshadri S, Patil N, Rao K, Nayak V, Dsouza H, Jaunky C, 2016. Fatal poisoning with colchicum autumnale: a case report. RJPBCS 7:1760-2."},{"key":"192498","unstructured":"University of Zurich, 2024. CliniTox Pflanzengifte: Colchicum autumnale. Available from: https:\/\/www.vetpharm.uzh.ch\/giftdb\/pflanzen\/0022_tox.htm. Accessed on: 28\/02\/2025."},{"key":"192499","unstructured":"VRLtH, 2022. SR 817.022.13. Available from: https:\/\/www.fedlex.admin.ch\/eli\/cc\/2017\/154\/de. 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