EFSA revises guidance on caramel colours
The European Food Safety Authority’s scientific Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food has assessed the safety of a group of caramel colours authorised for use in food in the EU, and revised the previously established Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI).
The Panel also looked at the safety of some by-products resulting from the production of these colours and recommended to that their levels in caramel colours be kept as low as technologically possible.
Based on all available data, the Panel concluded that these caramel colours are neither genotoxic, nor carcinogenic and that there is no evidence to show that they have any adverse effects on human reproduction or for the developing child. Given their similar properties, the ANS Panel has established a group ADI of 300mg per kg body weight per day (mg/kg bw/day) applicable to all four colours. However, for one of these – caramel E150c – the Panel has set a more restrictive ADI of 100mg/kg bw/day.
