FAO Nutrition Meetings
Resort Series No. 44A
WHO/Food Add./68.33
TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SOME
FLAVOURING SUBSTANCES AND
NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENING AGENTS
Geneva, 21-28 August 1967
The Eleventh Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food
Additives is published as FAO Nutrition Meetings Report Series,
1967, No. 44; Wld Hlth Org. techn. Rep. Ser., 1968, 383. This
Report contains general considerations, including the principles
adopted for the evaluation, and a summary of the results of the
evaluations of a number of food additives. Additional information,
such as biological data and a toxicological evaluation, considered at
that meeting, is to be found in this document.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
World Health Organization
1967
MALTO
Chemical name 3-Hydroxy-2-methyl-4-pyrone
Empirical formula C6H6O3
Structural formula
Molecular weight 126.11
Definition Maltol contains not less than 98 per cent.
C6H6O3.
Description A white, crystalline powder having a
characteristic caramel-butterscotch odour,
and suggestive of fruity-strawberry aroma in
dilute solution.
Biological Data
Biochemical aspects
No data available.
Acute toxicity
Animal Route LD50 Reference
(mg/kg
body-weight)
Mouse oral 550 Dow Chemical Company, 1967
Rat oral 1410 Dow Chemical Company, 1967
Guinea-pig oral 1410 Dow Chemical Company, 1967
(male)
Rabbit (male) oral 1620 Dow Chemical Company, 1967
Short-term studies
Rat. Groups of 15 males and 15 females were fed 0 and 1.0 per
cent. maltol for 6 months without adverse effect on growth, survival,
organ weights, haematology and microscopic appearance of major organs
(Dow Chemical Company, 1967).
Long-term studies
No information available.
Comments
In the absence of biochemical and long-term studies, the
evaluation is based on the short-term study.
EVALUATION
Level causing no toxicological effect
Rat. 10 000 ppm in the diet, equivalent to 500 mg/kg/day.
Estimate of acceptable daily intake for man
mg/kg body-weight
Temporary acceptance 0-1
Further work required
Biochemical studies in animals and man within three years.
REFERENCE
Dow Chemical Company (1967) Unpublished report