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    INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME ON CHEMICAL SAFETY

    WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION



    TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF CERTAIN
    FOOD ADDITIVES AND CONTAMINANTS



    WHO FOOD ADDITIVES SERIES 20





    Prepared by:
    The 29th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert
    Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)



    World Health Organization, Geneva 1985


         The International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS),
    established in 1980, is a joint venture of the United Nations
    Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organisation
    (ILO), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The overall objectives
    of the IPCS are to establish the scientific basis for assessment of
    the risk to human health and the environment from exposure to
    chemicals, through international peer-review processes, as a
    prerequisite for the assistance in strengthening national capacities
    for the sound management of chemicals.

         The Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of
    Chemicals (IOMC) was established in 1995 by UNEP, ILO, the Food and
    Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, WHO, the United
    Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Organisation for
    Economic Co-operation and Development (Participating Organizations),
    following recommendations made by the 1992 UN Conference on
    Environment and Development to strengthen cooperation and increase
    coordination of the policies and activities pursued by the
    Participating Organizations, jointly or separately, to achieve the
    sound management of chemicals in relation to human health and the
    environment.

    Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
    The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP
    32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA
    10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia

    (c) World Health Organization 1987
    First published 1987

    Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge

     British Library cataloguing in publication data

    Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food additives,
     Meeting (29th : 1985: Geneva)

    Toxicological evaluation of certain food additives and contaminants. -
    (WHO Food Additives series; 20)

    1. Food additives - Toxicology 2. Food contamination
    3. Food poisoning

    I. Title  II. Series 363.1'92 RA1258

     Library of Congress cataloging in publication data available

    ISBN 0 521 34347 X

    The preparation of this document was supported by the International
    Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), Geneva, Switzerland.

    CONTENTS

     Preface

    Enzyme Preparations and Enzyme Immobilizing Agents
         Carbohydrase (alpha-amylase) from  B. lichenformis
         Glucose isomerase (immob.) from  A. missouriensis
         Glucose isomerase (immob.) from  B. coagulans
         Glucose isomerase (immob.) from  S. olivaceus
         Glucose isomerase (immob.) from  A. olivochromogens
         Glucose isomerase (non-immobilized & immob.) from
          S. rubiginosus
         Polyethylenimine and ethylenimine

    Flour treatment agent
         Chlorine

    Food colours
         Brown FK
         Caramel colours, Classes I, II, II, and IV
         Fast Green FCF

    Sweetening Agents
         Hydrogenated Glucose Syrups
         Isomalt
         Thaumatin

    Thickening Agent
         Tragacanth Gum

     Annexes

         Annex 1   Reports and other documents resulting from previous
                   meetings of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food
                   Additives (JECFA)
         Annex 2   Abbreviations used in the monographs
         Annex 3   1985 JECFA participants
         Annex 4   Acceptable daily intakes and information on
                   specifications
    

    PREFACE

    The monographs contained in this volume were prepared by the twenty-
    ninth Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), which
    met in Geneva, Switzerland, 3-12 June 1985. These monographs summarize
    the safety data on selected food additives and contaminants reviewed
    by the Committee. Generally, the compounds on which monographs were
    prepared are those on which substantial safety data exist. The data
    reviewed in these monographs form the basis for acceptable daily
    intakes (ADIs) established by the Committee.

         The twenty-ninth report of JECFA has been published by the World
    Health Organization as WHO Technical Report Series, No. 733. The
    participants in the meeting are listed in Annex 3 of the present
    publication and a summary of the conclusions of the Committee is
    included as Annex 4.

         Specifications established by the twenty-ninth JECFA have been
    issued separately by FAO under the title  Specifications for the
     identity and purity of certain food additives, FAO Food and
    Nutrition Paper, No. 34. These toxicology monographs should be read in
    conjunction with the specifications and the report.

         Reports and other documents resulting from previous meetings of
    the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives are listed in
    Annex 1.

         JECFA serves as a scientific advisory body to FAO, WHO, their
    Member States, and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, primarily
    through the Codex Committee on Food Additives, regarding the safety of
    food additives and contaminants in food. Committees accomplish this
    task by preparing reports of their meetings and publishing
    specifications and toxicological monographs, such as those contained
    in this volume, on substances that they have considered.

         The toxicological monographs contained in this volume are based
    upon working papers that were prepared by temporary advisers in
    advance of the 1985 JECFA meeting. A special acknowledgement is given
    to those who prepared these working papers: Dr C.L. Galli, Professor
    of Experimental Toxicology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; Dr S.I.
    Shibko, Associate Director of Regulatory Evaluation, Center for Food
    Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration,
    Washington, DC, USA; and Dr Ronald Walker, Professor of Biochemistry,
    University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, England.

         Many proprietary unpublished reports are referenced. These were
    voluntarily submitted to the Committee by various producers of the
    food additives under review and in many cases these reports represent
    the only safety data available on these substances. The temporary

    advisers based the working papers they developed on all the data that
    were submitted, and all these studies were available to the Committee
    when it made its evaluations.

         From 1972 to 1975 the toxicology monographs prepared by Joint
    FAO/WHO Expert Committees on Food Additives were published by WHO in
    the WHO Food Additives Series; after 1975 this series became available
    only in the form of unpublished WHO documents provided on request by
    the Organization. Henceforth their publication by Cambridge University
    Press should ensure that these monographs are more widely known and
    available.

         The preparation and editing of the monographs included in this
    volume have been made possible through the technical and financial
    contributions of the Participating Institutions of the International
    Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), which support the activities of
    JECFA. IPCS is a joint venture of the United Nations Environment
    Programme, the International Labour Organisation, and the World Health
    Organization, which is the executing agency. One of the main
    objectives of IPCS is to carry out and disseminate evaluations of the
    effects of chemicals on human health and the quality of the
    environment.

         The designations employed and the presentation of the material in
    this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever
    on the part of the organizations participating in IPCS concerning the
    legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or its
    authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or
    boundaries. The mention of specific companies or of certain
    manufacturers' products does not imply that they are endorsed or
    recommended by those organizations in preference to those of a similar
    nature that are not so mentioned.

         Any comments or new information on the biological or
    toxicological data on the compounds reported in this document should
    be addressed to: Joint WHO Secretary of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert
    Committee on Food Additives, International Programme on Chemical
    Safety, World Health Organization, Avenue Appia, 1211 Geneva 27,
    Switzerland.




























    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations