INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME ON CHEMICAL SAFETY
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF CERTAIN
FOOD ADDITIVES AND CONTAMINANTS
WHO FOOD ADDITIVES SERIES 24
Prepared by:
The 33rd meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert
Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
Geneva, 21 - 30 March 1989
World Health Organization, Geneva 1989
The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) is a
joint venture of the United Nations Environment Programme, the
International Labour Organisation, and the World Health Organization.
The main objective of the IPCS is to carry out and disseminate
evaluations of the effects of chemicals on human health and the
quality of the environment. Supporting activities include the
development of epidemiological, experimental laboratory, and
risk-assessment methods that could produce internationally comparable
results, and the development of manpower in the field of toxicology.
Other activities carried out by the IPCS include the development of
know-how for coping with chemical accidents, coordination of
laboratory testing and epidemiological studies, and promotion of
research on the mechanisms of the biological action of chemicals.
(c) World Health Organization 1989
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data available
British Library cataloguing in publication data available
ISBN 0 521 38894 5
The preparation of this document was supported by the International
Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), Geneva, Switzerland
CONTENTS
Preface
Antioxidant
Butylated hydroxyanisole
Flour-treatment agent
Potassium bromate
Food colour
Erythrosine
Sweetening agent
Trichlorogalactosucrose
Thickening agent
Karaya gum
Contaminants
Aluminium
Arsenic
Cadmium
Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate
Iodine
Methylmercury
Tin
Annexes
Annex 1 Reports and other documents resulting from previous
meetings of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on
Food Additives
Annex 2 Abbreviations used in the monographs
Annex 3 1988 JECFA participants
Annex 4 Acceptable daily intakes, other toxicological
recommendations and information on specifications
Corrigenda to WHO Food Additives Series 22
PREFACE
The monographs contained in this volume were prepared by the
thirty-third Joint FAO/WHO Export Committee on Food Additives (JECFA),
which met in Geneva, Switzerland, 21-30 March 1988. These monographs
summarize the safety data on selected food additives and contaminants
reviewed by the Committee. The data reviewed in these monographs form
the basis for acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) established by the
Committee.
The thirty third report of JECFA has been published by the World
Health Organization in the WHO Technical Report Series (No. 776). The
participants in the meeting are listed in Annex 3 of the present
publication and a summary of the conclusions of the Committee is
included as Annex 4.
Specifications established at the thirty-third meeting of JECFA
will be issued separately by FAO under the title, Specifications for
the identity and purity of certain food additives in the FAO Food and
Nutrition Paper Series. These toxicological monographs should be read
in conjunction with the specifications and the report.
Reports and other documents resulting from previous meetings of
the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives are listed in
Annex 1.
JECFA serves as a scientific advisory body to FAO, WHO, their
Member States, and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, primarily
through the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants
regarding the safety of food additives and contaminants in food.
Committees accomplish this task by preparing reports of their meetings
and publishing specifications and toxicological monographs, such as
those contained in this volume, on substances that they have
considered.
The toxicological monographs contained in this volume are based
upon working papers that were prepared by temporary advisers in
advance of the 1988 JECFA meeting. A special acknowledgement is given
to those who prepared these working papers, Dr C.L. Galli, Professor
of Experimental Toxicology, University of Milan, Italy; Dr Ronald
Walker, Professor of Biochemistry, University of Surrey, Guildford,
Surrey, England; Drs Ronald Moch; D. Aub; D. Benz; and K. Adelman,
Division of Toxicology, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition,
Food and Drug Administration, Washington, DC, USA; Drs M.T. Lo, S.M.
Charbonneau and Dr D.L. Grant Bureau of Chemical Safety, Foods
Directorate, Health and Welfare Canada, Ottawa, Canada.
Many proprietary unpublished reports are referenced. These were
voluntarily submitted to the Committee by various producers of the
food additives under review and in many cases these reports represent
the only safety data available on these substances. The temporary
advisers based the working papers they developed on all the data that
were submitted, and all these studies were available to the Committee
when it made its evaluations.
From 1972 to 1975 the toxicology monographs prepared by Joint
FAO/WHO Expert Committees on Food Additives were published in the WHO
Food Additives Series; after 1975 this series became available only in
the form of unpublished WHO documents provided upon request by the
Organization. Beginning with the 1985 monographs, they are published
by the Cambridge University Press, which should ensure that these
monographs are more widely known and available.
The preparation and editing of the monographs included in this
volume have been made possible through the technical and financial
contributions of the Participating Institutions of the International
Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), which support the activities of
JECFA. IPCS is a joint venture of the United Nations Environment
Programme, the International Labour Organization, and the World Health
Organization, which is the executing agency. One of the main
objectives of the IPCS is to carry out and disseminate evaluations of
the effects of chemicals on human health and the quality of the
environment.
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in
this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever
on the part of the organizations participating in the IPCS concerning
the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or its
authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or
boundaries. The mention of specific companies or of certain
manufacturers' products does not imply that they are endorsed or
recommended by those organizations in preference to others of a
similar nature that are not mentioned.
Any comments or new information on the biological or
toxicological data on the compounds reported in this document should
be addressed to: Joint WHO Secretary of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert
Committee on Food Additives, International Programme on Chemical
Safety, World Health Organization, Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27,
Switzerland.