The purpose was to assess the health risk to general consumers in Taiwan associated with dietary intake of benzoic acid and sorbic acid by conducting a total diet study (TDS). The hazard index (HI) in percent acceptable daily intake (%ADI) of benzoic acid and sorbic acid for eight exposure groups classified by age were calculated. In high-intake consumers, the highest HI of benzoic acid was 54.1%ADI for males aged 1-2 years old at the 95th percentile, whereas for females, the HI was 61.7%ADI for aged over 66 years old. The highest HI of sorbic acid for male and female consumers aged 3-6 years old at the 95th percentile were 14.0%ADI and 12.2%ADI, respectively. These results indicate that the use of benzoic acid and sorbic acid as preservatives at the current level of use in the Taiwanese diet does not constitute a public health and safety concern.
Keywords: TDS; benzoic acid; food preservatives; risk assessment; sorbic acid.