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Updated: Jul 19, 2026
High Content Screening Analysis to Evaluate the Toxicological Effects of Harmful and Potentially Harmful Constituents (HPHC)
Published on: May 10, 2016
Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) evaluation of 4-hexylresorcinol for use as a processing aid for prevention of
V H Frankos1, D F Schmitt, L C Haws
1ENVIRON Corporation, Arlington, Virginia 22203.
Abstract:
4-Hexylresorcinol (C12H18O2) is proposed for use as a processing aid for prevention of melanosis ("black spot") in shrimp and as an alternative to the currently approved sulfites. A safety evaluation was conducted to affirm, based upon scientific procedures, the generally recognized as safe ("GRAS") status of 4-hexylresorcinol for proposed use. The GRAS safety evaluation compiled, reviewed, and analyzed data on the following areas: chemical identity, analytical methodology, historical and proposed uses, functionality, and safety. The publicly available safety data on 4-hexylresorcinol cover a broad range of potential toxicity concerns including acute and subacute toxicity, subchronic toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and allergenicity. These studies, along with the aforementioned data, demonstrate that 4-hexylresorcinol presents no risk of toxicity at the levels proposed for treatment of shrimp, and the use of 4-hexylresorcinol as a processing aid to prevent melanosis in shrimp is GRAS.
