BENZOATES

Comments:

Applying a chemical specific adjustment factor of 2 for interspecies toxicokinetics variation instead of the default factor of 4.0, the Committee established a group ADI of 0–20 mg/kg bw, which applies to benzoic acid, the benzoate salts (calcium, potassium and sodium), benzaldehyde, benzyl acetate, benzyl alcohol and benzyl benzoate, expressed as benzoic acid equivalents. The Committee withdrew the previous group ADI of 0–5 mg/kg bw.

Meeting:

92

Specs Code:

N

Report: 

Tox Monograph: 

Specification: 

ADI:

5 mg/kg bw (The 1996 group ADI of 0-5 mg/kg bw for benzoic acid and equivalents was maintained, fifty-seventh meeting (2001)

Comments:

At the request of CCFA at its Forty-sixth Session (9), the Committee evaluated dietary exposure to benzoic acid salts (benzoates).

Intake:

None of the mean exposure estimates for consumers of non-alcoholic (“soft”) beverages exceeded the upper bound of the ADI: 0.3–4.1 mg/kg bw per day for toddlers and young children, 0.2–2.7 mg/kg bw per day for other children, including adolescents, and 0.1–1.7 mg/kg bw per day for adults. However, the Committee noted that the 95th percentile exposures for the consumers-only group exceeded the upper bound of the ADI in some cases: up to 10.9 mg/kg bw per day for toddlers and young children and up to 7.0 mg/kg bw per day for other children, including adolescents. Additionally, the Committee noted that in some countries, the overall dietary exposure to benzoates for toddlers, young children and adolescents also exceeds the upper bound of the ADI at the high percentiles. Reduction of those exposures exceeding the upper bound of the ADI would require consideration of dietary patterns for both beverage and nonbeverage foods containing benzoates and typical/allowed benzoate use levels in those countries.

Meeting:

80

Report: 

Addendum: 

Intake:

1998 TRS 891-JECFA 51/118,157 FAS 42-JECFA 51/403. Intake estimates based on food additive levels in the draft General Standard for Food Additives of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, integrated with national data on food consumption, exceeded the ADI of 0-5 mg/kg bw in the five Member States that submitted such data. In national data submitted by nine Member States, estimates of mean intake of benzoates did not exceed the ADI. The potential exists for consumers with high intakes to exceed the ADI, but the available data were insufficient to estimate the number of such consumers or the magnitude and duration of intake above the ADI.

ADI:

5 mg/kg bw

Comments:

Group ADI 5 mg/kg bw as benzoic and equivalents was maintained.

Meeting:

46

Report: