Toxicology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Toxicology, including details on forensic toxicology, carcinogenicity, assays.

The FEMA GRAS assessment of aromatic substituted secondary alcohols, ketones, and related esters used as flavor ingredients.

Adams TB, McGowen MM, Williams MC, Cohen SM, Feron VJ, Goodman JI, Marnett LJ, Munro IC, Portoghese PS, Smith RL, Waddell WJ

Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association, 1620 I Street, NW, Suite 925, Washington, DC 20006, USA. tadams@therobertsgroup.net

This publication is the 11th in a series of safety evaluations performed by the Expert Panel of the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA). In 1993, the Panel initiated a comprehensive program to re-evaluate the safety of more than 1700 GRAS flavoring substances under conditions of intended use. The list of GRAS substances has now grown to more than 2100 substances. Elements that are fundamental to the safety evaluation of flavor ingredients include exposure, structural analogy, metabolism, pharmacokinetics and toxicology. Flavor ingredients are evaluated individually and in the context of the available scientific information on the group of structurally related substances. In this monograph, a detailed interpretation is presented on the renal carcinogenic potential of the aromatic secondary alcohol alpha-methylbenzyl alcohol, aromatic ketone benzophenone, and corresponding alcohol benzhydrol. The relevance of these effects to the flavor use of these substances is also discussed. The group of aromatic substituted secondary alcohols, ketones, and related esters was reaffirmed as GRAS (GRASr) based, in part, on their rapid absorption, metabolic detoxication, and excretion in humans and other animals; their low level of flavor use; the wide margins of safety between the conservative estimates of intake and the no-observed-adverse effect levels determined from subchronic and chronic studies and the lack of significant genotoxic and mutagenic potential.

Published 12 December 2006 in Food Chem Toxicol, 45(2): 171-201.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Toxicology Research Today. All Rights Reserved.