FAO Nutrition Meetings
Resort Series No. 44A
WHO/Food Add./68.33
TOXICOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SOME
FLAVOURING SUBSTANCES AND
NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENING AGENTS
Geneva, 21-28 August 1967
The Eleventh Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food
Additives is published as FAO Nutrition Meetings Report Series,
1967, No. 44; Wld Hlth Org. techn. Rep. Ser., 1968, 383. This
Report contains general considerations, including the principles
adopted for the evaluation, and a summary of the results of the
evaluations of a number of food additives. Additional information,
such as biological data and a toxicological evaluation, considered at
that meeting, is to be found in this document.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
World Health Organization
1967
GERANYL ACETATE
Chemical name 3,7-Dimethyl-2 trans,6-octadienyl acetate
Empirical formula C12H20O2
Structural formula
CH3 CH3
CH3C=CHCH2CH2C=CHCH2OCOCH3
Molecular weight 196.29
Definition Geranyl acetate contains not less than 90
per cent. of total esters, calculated as
C12H20O2.
Description Geranyl acetate is found in the oils of
Daucus carota L., Eucalyptus macarthurii
Deane, and other oils. It is obtained from
geraniol by ecetylation. It is a colourless
liquid, having a pleasant flowery odour.
Biological Data
Biochemical aspects
This ester is probably metabolized to
1,5 dimethy-1-1,5-hexadien-1,6-dicarboxylic acid,
7-carboxy-3-methylocta-6-enoic acid and acetic acid (Williams, 1959).
Acute toxicity
Animal Route LD50 Reference
(mg/kg
body-weight)
Rat oral 6330 Jenner et al., 1964
Short-term studies
Rat. In a 12-week feeding study on 15 males and 15 females,
using mixed esters, there was a slight retardation of growth in
females at a level of 48.4 mg/kg body-weight/day (Oser, 1967). The
substance was fed to groups of 10 male and 10 female rats at levels of
0, 0.1 0.25 and 1.0 per cent. in the diet for 17 weeks without
detection of any adverse effects on major tissues (Hagan et al.,
1967).
Comments
Despite the scanty animal data it is possible to evaluate this
compound on the basis of its likely metabolic fate and the short-term
studies. Confirmatory studies are needed.1
EVALUATION
Level causing no significant toxicological effect
Rat. 1 per cent. (= 10 000 ppm) in the diet, equivalent to 500
mg/kg body-weight/day.
Estimate of acceptable daily intake for man
mg/kg body-weight
Conditional acceptance 0-5
Further work required
Biochemical and metabolic studies in animals and man and
long-term studies.1
REFERENCES
Hagan, E. C., Hansen, W. H., Fitzhugh, O. G., Jenner, P. M., Jones, W.
I., Taylor, J. M., Long, E. L., Nelson, A. A. & Brouwer, J. B. (1967)
Fd Cosmet. Toxicol., 5,(2), 141
Jenner, P. M., Hagan, E.C., Taylor, J. M., Cook, E. L. & Fitzhugh, O.
G. (1964) Fd Cosmet. Toxicol., 2, 327
Oser, B. L. (1967) Unpublished report
Willliams, R. T. (1959) Detoxication Mechanisms, Second Edition,
Chapman & Hall, London
1 When considering the group of flavouring substances citral,
citronellol, linalol, linalyl acetate and geranyl acetate, the
Committee stressed the urgent need to elucidate the metabolic pathways
which may be common to these widely distributed substances. They found
it reasonable to require that one or more of these substances should
be made the subject of long-term studies. Whether this limitation can
be made and which substances should be chosen may follow from a
consideration of the biochemical evidence when this becomes available.