Toxicological evaluation of some food
    additives including anticaking agents,
    antimicrobials, antioxidants, emulsifiers
    and thickening agents



    WHO FOOD ADDITIVES SERIES NO. 5







    The evaluations contained in this publication
    were prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert
    Committee on Food Additives which met in Geneva,
    25 June - 4 July 19731

    World Health Organization
    Geneva
    1974

              

    1    Seventeenth Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on
    Food Additives, Wld Hlth Org. techn. Rep. Ser., 1974, No. 539;
    FAO Nutrition Meetings Report Series, 1974, No. 53.

    STARCH SODIUM SUCCINATE

    Explanation

         Modification is performed by 4% succinic anhydride to form the
    succinic acid ester. The extent of esterification is not known. The
    material used in the tests described below was prepared in the
    laboratory, where a high reaction efficiency (80, or 3.2% of succinic
    anhydride reacted, a degree of substitution of about 0.05) may have
    been attained.

    BIOLOGICAL DATA

    BIOCHEMICAL ASPECTS

         No enzymatic hydrolysis data about in vitro behaviour are
    available. Caloric value was determined in groups of 10 male rats fed
    for four weeks a basal diet supplemented with either starch, starch
    succinate or sucrose, the last in graded amounts. All rats were
    normally active and remained healthy. The caloric equivalent of the
    starch ester, as determined from comparison with the dose response
    curve for sucrose at 0, 0.75 g, 1.5 g, 3.0 g and 4.5 g (equivalent to
    0, 3, 6, 12 and 18 calories per day), was identical with that of
    native starch (Carson, 1960).

    TOXICOLOGICAL STUDIES

    Acute toxicity

         None available.

    Short-term studies

    Rat

         Groups of three male and three female rats were fed for 10 weeks
    on diets containing 70% of starch or starch sodium succinate as their
    sole source of carbohydrate. Groups were fed ad lib and also pair-
    fed. No significant differences were observed in growth rates, feed
    efficiency or haemoglobin levels between the various groups. No
    histopathological examinations were reported (Oser, 1945).

    Long-term studies

         None available.

    Comments:

         The toxicological investigations of this starch ester are
    inadequate. Adequate metabolic studies, preferably in man, are
    desirable; furthermore, 90-day studies in at least two species (one a
    non-rodent mammal), using material with a known degree of
    substitution, are required.

    EVALUATION

         Not possible on the data available.

    REFERENCES

    Carson, S. (1960) Unpublished report by Food and Drug Research
         Laboratories Inc., No. 80878c-e, 1 December 1960

    Oser, B. L. (1945) Unpublished report by Food Research Laboratories
    Inc., No. 39989-92, 15 February 1945

    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations
       Starch sodium succinate  (FAO Nutrition Meetings Report Series 46a)
       STARCH SODIUM SUCCINATE (JECFA Evaluation)