Genotoxicity of flavoring agents

The genotoxicity of 9 flavoring agents widely used in everyday foods was studied by a bacterial mutation test in the Salmonella/microsome system and by a chromosome test in Chinese hamster (CH) cells. In the mutation test none of the flavorings exhibited significant induction of his+ revertants in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 or TA100, either with or without rat-liver microsome as the metabolic activation system. On the other hand, in the chromosome test most of the agents induced severe chromosome aberration in the treated CH cells, suggesting a potential genotoxicity.