Abstract
Fatal doses of certified and other food colors, for cold and warm blooded animals, compared with maximal harmless doses based on the rate of growth of young rabbits, showed no definite relation. It was inferred that harmlessness cannot be derived from fatal doses.
The food color factor of safety for man is defined as the quotient of the maximal harmless oral daily dose, divided by the maximal possible daily consumption in foods and beverages by man; the abbreviated formula being FCFS =MHD/MC. By the maximal harmless oral dose is meant the largest daily dose, which when given by mouth throughout the life of the most susceptible laboratory mammal, produces no depression of any physiological process, and no injury to any tissue.
Food colors as a whole are to be regarded as harmless when the total possible daily consumption of all food colors, in all foods and beverages, does not exceed the maximal harmless dose.
A determination of the factor of safety of a food color of medium toxicity, based on the preliminary results for the maximal harmless dose for the growth of young rabbits, and the maximal possible consumption of the color by man in soda water, gave the following result:
FCFS = M H D/M C = 21000/25 = 840.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.