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.

    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations
       White and yellow dextrins  (FAO Nutrition Meetings Report Series 46a)