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.
WHITE AND YELLOW DEXTRINS
Explanation
White dextrins are prepared by heating dry starch in the presence
of an acid at a temperature generally below 150°C. White dextrins may
also be obtained by further continuing the acid process for making
thin boiling starches. Because of the nature of the application as
well as their flavour their use in food is restricted. Dextrins are a
stage in the normal digestion of starch occurring in the human
gastrointestinal tract. They represent a broad range of products with
considerably smaller molecular size than native starch.
Yellow dextrins are prepared in a similar manner but at a higher
temperature and using less acid. Apart from depolymerisation a good
deal of internal rearrangement occurs with formation of highly
branched molecules. These materials are used in foods in limited
quantities as adjuvants in flavour encapsulation and similar minor
uses.
Comments:
These substances are regarded as identical to the intermediates
formed in the normal digestion of starch and normal constituents of
food.
EVALUATION
Estimate of acceptable daily intake for man
Not limited.*
* See relevant paragraph in the seventeenth report, pp. 10-11.