Safety evaluation of INFAT® PLUS: Acute, genetic, teratogenic, and subchronic (90-day) toxicity studies

INFAT®PLUS, is a sn-2 palmitate enriched fat ingredient intended for infant formula. A battery of toxicological studies was conducted in accordance with the Food Safety Toxicological Assessment GB-15193 (China), to confirm the safety of INFAT®PLUS. In the acute oral toxicity test, the LD50 of INFAT® PLUS was higher than 53.4 g /kg BW and 26.7 g/kg BW for ICR mice and SD rats, respectively. In a subchronic study, INFAT® PLUS was administered by oral gavage to SD rats with maximal daily dose of 8.90 g/kg BW for 90 days. No treatment-related clinical signs or mortalities were observed. The no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) was set at 8.90 g/kg BW. Similarly, no evidence of genotoxicity effect was noted in several in vitro and in vivo tests, including bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) test, mouse erythrocyte micronucleus test, and chromosome aberration test of mouse spermatogonia/spermatocyte. For the teratogenic evaluations, no toxicological signs were observed in both pregnant SD rat and fetuses, and the NOAEL of INFAT® PLUS was determined to be 8.90 g/kg BW. Based on the obtained results we concluded that INFAT® PLUS was found non-toxic under the experimental conditions, and the totality of the safety data supports its use for infant nutrition.