Dietary exposure assessment of synthetic food colours using analytical concentrations in Korea

ABSTRACT

The safety of nine synthetic colour additives approved in Korea were assessed through hazard identification, hazard characterisation, exposure assessment, and risk characterisation. Hazard identification and characterisation were conducted using new risk information based on toxicology data. Exposure assessment calculated the estimated daily intake (EDI) of the nine colours. Finally, the risk was evaluated by comparing the EDIs of the colours with the acceptable daily intake (ADI). 1,114 samples (24 food categories) among a total of 1,454 samples contained colour additives either at a level that was not detectable or up to a quantified maximum of 288 mg kg⁻¹. The likelihood of risk of exposure to all food colours, evaluated by comparing the EDI with the ADI, was less than 0.52% of the ADI for the general population. These results indicate that use of synthetic food colour in Korea is safe and does not result in excessive exposure to any population group.

KEYWORDS:

• Safety assessment
• estimated daily intake
• synthetic food colour

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest are reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Korea [grant number 14162MFDS018].