Safety evaluation of certain food additives - ipcs inchem

ALKOXY-SUBSTITUTED ALLYLBENZENES 353
to the USA, where annual volumes are low (491 kg/year for estragole and 77 kg/
year for methyl eugenol) (Gavin et al., 2007). Oral intake of these six substances in
Europe and Asia, as well as the USA, occurs both by consumption of foods, mainly
spices and herbs, in which they occur and by consumption of essential oils that are
physically isolated from these foods.
Many of these substances are genotoxic and carcinogenic in animals. In
accordance with general principles elaborated by the Committee at its forty-ninth
meeting (Annex 1, reference 131), the Committee at its present meeting concluded
that these substances could not be evaluated using the Procedure for the Safety
Evaluation of Flavouring Agents.
The relevant background information below summarizes the key scientific
data applicable to the safety assessment of the six methoxy- and methylenedioxysubstituted
allylbenzenes.
Figure 1. Chemical structure of the six alkoxy-substituted allybenzenes
MeO
MeO MeO
Estragole
4-Methoxyallylbenzene
O
O
Safrole
3,4-Methylenedioxyallylbenzene
1.1 Natural occurrence
Methyl eugenol
3,4-Dimethoxyallylbenzene
O
O
MeO
MeO
MeO MeO
Myristicin
5-Methoxy-3,4-methylenedioxyallylbenzene
OMe
Elemicin
3,4,5-Trimethoxyallylbenzene
O
O
OMe
Apiole
2,5-Dimethoxy-3,4-methylenedioxyallylbenzene
To varying extents, members of the group are constituents of the plant
families Umbelliferae (anise, star anise, fennel, sweet fennel, parsley),
Myristicaceae (nutmeg and mace), Labiatae (sweet and exotic basil) and
Compositeae (tarragon). Although they are present in many other foods at low
levels, intake of the methylenedioxy-substituted allylbenzenes (safrole, myristicin
and apiole) occurs from consumption of spices and herb and spice oils. Exposures
to myristicin and safrole occur mainly by consumption of nutmeg, mace, parsley,
parsley seed oil and star anise. Intake of apiole is predominantly from consumption
of parsley (Appendix 1). Intakes of the three methoxy-substituted allylbenzenes also
occur principally from consumption of spices and spice oils. Intake of estragole
occurs primarily from consumption of foods containing sweet basil, fennel and anise