CARRAGEENAN UPDATE
The International Food Additives Council (IFAC) is a trade association composed of producers of high purity substances used as food additives. Recent press reports have carried the statement from a university investigator that carrageenan, the popular gum used in many food products may be carcinogenic and that regulatory authorities have not adequately reviewed the safety of carrageenan. Both statements are simply not true.
Here are the facts.
l. IFAC member companies produce carrageenan and IFAC has participated in the collection of information on the safety and utility of carrageenan and submission of these data for regulatory review.
2. Studies in laboratory animals in which carcinogenicity was suggested have involved product and use levels that are different than the low levels of carrageenan used in food.
3. Periodic reviews of carrageenan safety have been completed, the most recent of which was in 2001 by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Their final report is not due out for some time. However, JECFA has assigned an ADI of "not specified" to carrageenan, the most favorable of numerous ratings JECFA may use in evaluating the safety and suitability of a food additive. This means the limit established on the consumption of carrageenan is at the level used in food to achieve the desired technical or functional effect.
4. Also not pointed out in press reports, is a review paper by Samuel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D. (Chairman of the Department of Pathology/Microbiology, Medical School at the University of Nebraska) and Dr. Nobuyuki Ito (Professor Emeritus, Nagoya City University Medical School, Japan) due for publication next year and considered by JECFA in their deliberations. Drs. Cohen and Ito, both well-known and respected cancer researchers evaluated and rebutted the evidence of claims of carcinogenicity.
Users of carrageenan may contact IFAC for further information on this most recent affirmation that carrageenan is safe for use in food.