Safety assessment of smoke flavouring primary products by the European Food Safety Authority

This paper summarises the safety assessments of eleven smoke flavouring primary products evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Data on chemical composition, content of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and results of genotoxicity tests and subchronic toxicity studies are presented and discussed. The smoke flavourings vary in their contents of identified constituents; none of them exceeded the legal limit for benzo[a]pyrene and benzo[a]anthracene. Ten smoke flavourings proved not to be genotoxic in vivo, whereas this could not be ruled out for another smoke flavouring. Results from animal testing and proposed dietary exposure indicate that only three smoke flavourings would not be of safety concern for humans.