Safety Evaluation of Certain Food Additives and Contaminants

This book evaluates the design and findings of studies relevant to the safety assessment of selected food additives and contaminants. The book, which is part of a long-running series prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), gives toxicologists, the food industry, and regulatory agencies a record of the scientific evidence considered when the Committee allocates or revises acceptable daily intakes and other endpoints. Emphasis is placed on...
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This book evaluates the design and findings of studies relevant to the safety assessment of selected food additives and contaminants. The book, which is part of a long-running series prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), gives toxicologists, the food industry, and regulatory agencies a record of the scientific evidence considered when the Committee allocates or revises acceptable daily intakes and other endpoints.

Emphasis is placed on studies that relate specific exposure levels to specific toxic effects or guide the meaningful extrapolation of animal data to the human condition. Through its careful attention to questions of study design, methodology, and the validity of reported data, the book also demonstrates the strict safety standards used by JECFA in its efforts to protect consumers from any possible toxicological or pharmacological hazard linked to the use of food additives.

Separate toxicological monographs are presented for one glazing agent (hydrogenated poly-1-decene), one sweetening agent (erythritol), one thickener (curdlan), and three miscellaneous substances ( g-cyclodextrin, sodium iron ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), and sodium sulfate). The volume also includes monographs on two groups of related substances evaluated according to the Procedure for the Safety Evaluation of Flavouring Agents, and on the allergenicity potential of peanut and soya bean oils. Subsequent monographs summarize the toxicological and intake data available for three food contaminants (lead, methylmercury, and zearalenone), and the intake data available for four food additives (annatto extracts (bixin), canthaxanthin, erythrosine, and iron oxides).