Safety evaluation of certain food additives - ipcs inchem

354 ALKOXY-SUBSTITUTED ALLYLBENZENES
or their essential oils (Smith et al., 2002); intake of methyl eugenol is from nutmeg,
allspice, sweet basil and fennel; and intake of elemicin is from nutmeg, mace,
tarragon and parsley seed oil (see Appendix 1).
1.2 Estimated daily per capita exposure to alkoxy-substituted
allylbenzenes
1.2.1 From spices, herbs and herb and spice oils
Although methoxy- and methylenedioxy-substituted allylbenzenes such as
safrole, myristicin, methyl eugenol and estragole occur at low levels in oranges,
bananas and grapefruit juice (Nijssen et al., 2008), exposure from food occurs
predominantly from the use of spices, including basil, tarragon, nutmeg, mace and
allspice. Based on the oil content of a wide variety of spice samples obtained from
the global marketplace and the range of concentrations of individual alkoxysubstituted
allylbenzene constituents in those oil samples, a low and high
concentration of each alkoxy-substituted allylbenzene in specific spices can be
estimated (see Appendix 1). Based on these lower and upper limit concentrations
and recent annual reported volumes of spice imports and exports (International
Trade Centre, 2006; Gavin et al., 2007; United States Department of Agriculture,
2007), the upper and lower limits and the mean daily per capita intake of each
alkoxy-substituted allylbenzene from spices and spice oils can be calculated
(Table 1). The most complete available data set originates from the USA. Data on
spice and herb imports from other regions, including the European Union (EU) and
the Pacific Rim, are limited. Nevertheless, a comparison of estimated intakes from
comprehensive data from the USA and limited EU data suggests that, in general,
intakes are roughly similar.
Although myristicin, safrole, estragole and methyl eugenol intakes arise from
different spice sources, all exhibit a similar range of intakes, which is approximately
400–600 μg/person per day, based on the upper limits of their concentrations in
spices and spice oils (Table 1). An important caveat that must be considered when
evaluating these estimations, however, is that the levels of methoxy- and
methylenedioxy-substituted allylbenzenes in spices vary significantly depending
upon exact growing region, plant maturity at harvest, harvesting techniques, storage
conditions and processing methods (e.g. extraction, drying). Nonetheless, data on
a wide range of commercially available spices and oils can be used to determine
an aggregate average daily intake for these substances.
The range of intake of methoxy- and methylenedioxy-substituted allylbenzenes
from spices and spice oils is generally similar, with the mean intake of
safrole, myristicin, estragole and methyl eugenol in the range of 63–166 μg/person
per day. Based on the highest reported levels of spice oil in the spice and the highest
reported concentration of the methoxy- and methylenedioxy-substituted
allylbenzenes in the oil, the maximum dietary intake levels for the same four
substances are in the range of 424–569 μg/person per day in the USA. Based
primarily on EU import data for nutmeg and mace, the maximum dietary intake levels
for safrole and myristicin are 879 and 684 μg/person per day, respectively. The
maximum dietary intakes of the remaining two alkoxy-substituted allylbenzenes