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       INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME ON CHEMICAL SAFETY

       WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION



       TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF CERTAIN
       FOOD AND ADDITIVES



       WHO FOOD ADDITIVES SERIES 37





       Prepared by:
         The 46th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert
         Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)



       World Health Organization, Geneva 1996


    This publication is a contribution to the International Programme on
    Chemical Safety.

    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 assessing the risk to human health
    and the environment from exposure to chemicals, through international
    peer-review processes, as a prerequisite for the promotion of chemical
    safety, and to provide technical 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 United Nations Conference on
    Environment and Development to strengthen cooperation and increase
    coordination in the field of chemical safety. The purpose of the IOMC
    is to promote 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.

    ISBN 92 4 166037 6

    CONTENTS

    Preface

    Emulsifier

         Glycerol ester of wood rosin

    Sweetening agent

         Alitame

    Thickening agent

         Konjac flour

    Miscellaneous substances

         Benzyl acetate, benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, and benzoic acid
         and its salts

    Annexes

         Annex 1   Reports and other documents resulting from previous
                   meetings of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food
                   Additives
         Annex 2   Abbreviations used in the monographs
         Annex 3   Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives,
                   Geneva, 6-15 February 1996
         Annex 4   Acceptable daily intakes, other toxicological
                   information, and information on specifications
    

    PREFACE

         The monographs contained in this volume were prepared by the
    forty- sixth Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA),
    which met in Geneva, Switzerland, 6-15 February 1996. These monographs
    summarize data on the safety of selected food additives reviewed by
    the Committee, and these data form the basis for the acceptable daily
    intakes (ADIs) established by the Committee.

         The forty-sixth report of JECFA will be published by the World
    Health Organization in the WHO Technical Report Series. The
    participants in the meeting are listed in Annex 3 of this publication,
    and a summary of the conclusions of the Committee is included as Annex
    4.

         Specifications established at the forty-sixth meeting of JECFA
    will be published by FAO as FAO Food and Nutrition Paper 52, Add. 4.
    These toxicological monographs should be read in conjunction with the
    specifications and the report.

         Reports and other documents resulting from previous meetings of
    JECFA 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 and Contaminants and the
    Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods, regarding
    the safety of food additives, residues of veterinary drugs, naturally
    occurring toxicants, and contaminants in food. Committees accomplish
    this task by preparing reports of their meetings and publishing
    specifications or monographs on residues or toxicology, such as those
    contained in this volume, for substances that they have evaluated.

         The toxicological monographs contained in this volume are based
    on working papers that were prepared by Temporary Advisers. A special
    acknowledgement is given at the beginning of each monograph to the
    author who prepared the working paper.

         Many unpublished proprietary reports are cited. In many cases,
    these reports represent the only data available on the safety of these
    substances, and they were submitted voluntarily to the Committee by
    various producers of the food additives under review. The Temporary
    Advisers based the working papers they wrote on all the data that were
    submitted, and all of the studies were available to the Committee when
    it made its evaluations. The monographs were edited by Mrs E.
    Heseltine, St Léon-sur-Vézère, France.

         Between 1972 and 1975, the toxicological monographs prepared by
    JECFA were published in the WHO Food Additives Series; after 1975, the
    series was available in the form of unpublished WHO documents, which
    were provided upon request to the Organization. WHO Food Additives
    Series No. 20, which was prepared by the twenty-ninth Committee in
    1985, and subsequent volumes through to WHO Food Additives Series No.
    24, which was prepared by the thirty-third Committee in 1988, were
    published by Cambridge University Press. Beginning with WHO Food
    Additives Series No. 25, which was prepared by the thirty-fourth
    Committee, WHO has been producing the volumes as priced documents.

         The preparation and editing of the monographs contained in this
    volume were made possible through the technical and financial
    contributions of the Participating Institutions of the International
    Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), which supports 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 make and disseminate evaluations of the
    effects of chemicals on human health and the quality of the
    environment.

         The designations used 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 others of a
    similar nature that are not mentioned.

         Any comments or new information on the biological or
    toxicological properties of the compounds reported in this publication
    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