Only the best for pigs and chicks

By 12. März 2012Blog

Is it safe to use 16 phenol derivatives as flavouring compounds in animal feed? Chemical Group 25 (CG 25) consist of phenol derivatives containing ring-alkyl, ring-alkoxy and side-chains with an oxygenated functional group, of which 16 are currently authorised for use as flavours in food. The flavouring compounds are calculated to be safe for all animal species at a maximum level of 5 mg/kg complete feed. This value supports the highest proposed use level for 13 of the 16 compounds with the margin of safety of approximately 1 to 5 for pigs and poultry, the most sensitive species.

CG 25 is used for flavouring in food, so, the essential result of the scientific opinion is: what is good for men can’t be bad for animals.

The Panel concludes that the use of any of the 16 compounds included in CG 25 at the maximum proposed use level in animal feed would not raise safety concerns for consumers of animal products. No new data on the safety for the user was provided. However, potential hazards for skin and eye contact and respiratory exposure of various severities are recognised for all of the compounds included in CG 25. The Panel expects that at the use level safe for all target species (5 mg/kg feed), the 16 compounds included in CG 25 do not pose a risk for the environment. Since all 16 compounds include in CG 25 are used in food as flavourings and their function in feed is essentially the same as that in food, no further demonstration of efficacy was considered necessary.

One more question could be: is it necessary to add flavours to feed? Just have a look at what feed they’re used to…

The scientific opinion can be found here.