Safety evaluation of certain food additives - ipcs inchem

ALKOXY-SUBSTITUTED ALLYLBENZENES 461
Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (http://www.fas.usda.gov/
ustrade/USTImFatus.asp?QI=). As the majority of herbs and spices that are sold in
the USA are likely imported, this column approximates the total volume of each herb
and spice that was placed into commerce in some form in the USA in the 2007
calendar year. Based on this reported volume, the next three columns provide the
lower limit, upper limit and mean value for each alkoxy-substituted allylbenzene
volume that would be present in the aggregate amounts of each herb and spice
placed in commerce in the USA. For instance, to calculate the mean limit for the
estragole content (in kg) within the total amount of basil that was reported as being
imported into the USA in the calendar year 2007, the mean limit for estragole content
in basil (1162.4 mg/kg) is multiplied by the volume of imported basil (4 398 100 kg).
This calculation results in an estragole volume of 5112.5 kg arising from its presence
within the total volume of USA-imported basil.
Section 7 provides information concerning the amount of the alkoxysubstituted
allylbenzene present in each herb or spice product that has been used
as a flavouring. The first column in this section provides data for herbs and spices
that were collected by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association in their
most recent (2005) poundage survey (Gavin et al., 2007). Based on this reported
poundage, the next three columns provide the lower limit, upper limit and mean
value for each alkoxy-substituted allylbenzene volume that would be present in each
herb and spice as a flavouring agent. For instance, to calculate the lower limit for
the estragole content (in kg) within the total amount of basil that was reported as
being used as a flavouring agent, the lower limit for estragole content in basil
(0.08 mg/kg) is multiplied by the volume of basil used as a flavouring agent
(726 567 kg). This calculation results in an estragole volume of 0.1 kg arising from
its presence within basil used as a flavouring agent. These data are provided to give
an indication of how much of the total herb/spice product given in Section 5 is used
by the flavour industry. For instance, the flavour industry in the USA reported
726 567 kg of basil used as a flavouring agent, whereas the total basil imports
reported by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural
Service are 4 398 100 kg, suggesting that roughly 16.5% of imported basil is placed
into commerce as a flavouring agent. The majority of the rest is presumably placed
into commerce as a herb used as such or used for other functions (e.g. colourmodifying
properties).
Section 8 provides information concerning the amount of the alkoxysubstituted
allylbenzene present in each herb or spice product that has been
imported into the EU in 2004. The first column in this section provides data for herbs
and spices that were collected by the International Trade Centre for the EU for
calendar year 2004 (International Trade Centre, 2006). Based on this reported
volume, the next three columns provide the lower limit, upper limit and mean value
for each alkoxy-substituted allylbenzene volume that would be present in the
aggregate amounts of each herb and spice placed in commerce in the EU. Data on
herb and spice imports are limited and in some cases have been aggregated, which
does not allow for calculation of alkoxy-substituted allylbenzene volume in most
cases. Therefore, these data are primarily for nutmeg and in some cases for
cinnamon. For those alkoxy-substituted allylbenzenes that are not found in
quantified amounts in nutmeg, no data are reported in Appendix 1.