Safety evaluation of certain food additives - ipcs inchem

332 ALIPHATIC LINEAR ,-UNSATURATED ALDEHYDES
The Committee previously evaluated 37 other members of this group of
flavouring agents at its sixty-third meeting (Annex 1, reference 173). The findings
from these evaluations were considered in the present evaluation. All 37 flavouring
agents in that group were concluded to be of no safety concern at the current
estimated levels of intake.
Thirteen of the 22 flavouring agents in this group are natural components
of foods (Nos 1793–1795, 1803, 1805–1812 and 1814). They have been primarily
detected in a wide variety of fruits, such as apple, strawberry, grape, pear, pineapple,
mango, guava, cranberry, plum, passion fruit and papaya, as well as in red
and white wine, fruit juices and fruit brandies. They have also been detected to a
lesser extent in a number of meats, fish, vegetables and teas (Nijssen et al., 2007).
1.2 Assessment of dietary exposure
The total annual volume of production of the 22 flavouring agents in this
group is approximately 530 kg in Europe (European Flavour and Fragrance Association,
2005), 1500 kg in the USA (Gavin et al., 2007) and 680 kg in Japan (Japan
Flavor & Fragrance Materials Association, 2002). In the USA, approximately 75%
of the total annual production volume is accounted for solely by (E,Z)-methyl
2-nonenoate (No. 1813), whereas (E,Z)-methyl 2-hexenoate (No. 1809) has the
next greatest contribution (approximately 20%). In Europe, more than 90% of
the total annual production volume is accounted for by ethyl trans-2-hexenoate
(No. 1808), ethyl trans-2-butenoate (No. 1806), ethyl trans-2-octenoate (No. 1812),
(E,Z)-methyl 2-nonenoate (No. 1813) and ethyl trans-2-decenoate (No. 1814). In
Japan, trans-2-hexenal propylene glycol acetal (No. 1801), ethyl trans-2-butenoate
(No. 1806) and ethyl trans-2-decenoate (No. 1814) account for more than 90% of
the total annual production volume. The estimated daily per capita intake is the
highest for (E,Z)-methyl 2-nonenoate in the USA (142 μg). For the other flavouring
agents, the estimated daily per capita intakes were in the range of 0.01–104 μg.
The estimated daily per capita intakes of each agent are reported in Table 1. Annual
volumes of production of this group of flavouring agents are summarized in Table 2.