Sulfites: EFSA highlights safety concern for heavy consumers and data gaps

According to the experts of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) called to re-evaluate the safety of sulfur dioxide (E220) and sulfites (E221-228), the intake of these additives through food and drink could be a safety concern for heavy consumers of food products that contain them. However, due to gaps in toxicity data, it was not possible to establish with certainty the extent of the possible adverse health effects.  

Sulfites are naturally present in our bodies, and also in some type of food (e.g. apples, rice, onions and cabbage) and in drinks (e.g. wine). Moreover, sulfites are used as preservative and antioxidant additives in many food products (for example, to prevent browning or to stop the fermentation process), such as dried fruits and vegetables, potato products, beer and other malt beverages, fruit juices and wine.    

In 2016, EFSA re-assessed the safety of sulfites as part of the re-evaluation programme for food additives authorized in the EU before 20 January 2009. At that time, the panel of experts set a “temporary” acceptable daily intake (i.e. the threshold below which it is known that the intake of a certain substance is safe) of 0.7 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, pending the availability of new and more precise data.  

Although the European Commission launched a call for data to address the uncertainties described by EFSA, the information provided by industry and available in the open literature were insufficient to establish an ADI.  For this reason, the margins of exposure (MOE) was calculated, i.e. the relationship between the minimum dose at which an adverse effect is observed and the level of exposure to the substance.    

Dr Matthew Wright, Chair of EFSA’s working group on sulphur dioxide-sulphites, said: “The MOEs we calculated were below 80 for high consumers in all population groups except for adolescents. This means that estimated intakes for these consumers potentially exceed what would be considered safe, by up to 12.5% for children (3-10 years old) and up to 60% for adults.”  

The experts also found evidence of harmful effects on the central nervous system (such as a delayed response of nerve cells to stimuli) and restated their previous recommendation to further investigate the issue of hypersensitivity and intolerance of some particularly sensitive consumers.      

 

Source:  

https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/news/sulfites-safety-concern-high-consumers-data-lacking