The draft presents an evaluation of the applicability of the Acute Reference Dose (ARfD) established for cyanide (CN) in raw apricot kernels for other foods (including almond kernels and bitter almonds) containing cyanogenic glycosides, as well as an evaluation of the relevance of chronic effects related to human dietary exposure, estimations of acute and chronic dietary exposure and an assessment of human health risks related to acute dietary exposure to cyanogenic glycosides.
Some of the conclusions are that the foods with the highest CNGs values were bitter almonds (Prunus amygdalus var. amara,) and in linseed (Linum usitatissimum); the cyanogenic glycosides in apricot and bitter almond kernels are reduced to acceptable levels during the process of manufacturing persipan; and the ARfD of 20 μg CN/kg bw should be protective for acute effects of CN from CNGs, regardless of the dietary source, meaning that dietary exposure did not exceed the ARfD of 20 μg CN/kg bw for any age group.
The deadline for submitting comments is January 25, 2019.
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