Safety of 41 flavouring compounds providing a herbal flavour and belonging to different chemical groups for use as feed additives in all animal species (FEFANA asbl)

EFSA J. 2023 Oct 25;21(10):e08340. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8340. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Following a request from the European Commission, EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety of 41 compounds to provide a Herbal flavour and belonging to different chemical groups, when used as sensory additives in feed for all animal species. Fourteen out of the 41 compounds were tested in tolerance studies in chickens for fattening, piglets, cattle for fattening and Atlantic salmon. No adverse effects were observed in the tolerance studies at 10-fold the intended level. The Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) concluded that the 14 tested compounds were safe for these species at the proposed use level and conclusions were extrapolated to all animal species. For the remaining 27 compounds, read-across from structurally similar compounds tested in tolerance trials and belonging to the same chemical group was applied. The FEEDAP Panel concluded that these 27 compounds were safe for all animal species at the proposed use level. No safety concern would arise for the consumer and the environment from the use of the 41 compounds up to the maximum proposed use level in feed.

Keywords: environment; flavourings; herbal flavour; read‐across; safety; sensory additives; tolerance studies with mixture of flavourings.