Risk assessment of "other substances" – Lycopene. Opinion of the Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids, Materials in Contact with Food and Cosmetics of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety

Abstract

The Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety (VKM) has, at the request of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, assessed the risk of lycopene in food supplements. For the risk characterisation, the value used for comparison with the estimated exposure is the ADI of 0.5 mg/kg bw per day established by EFSA. An ADI is set to cover the general population, including children. The ADI was used for comparison with the estimated exposure in the risk characterization. VKM concludes that it is unlikely that a daily dose of 10 mg lycopene from food supplements causes adverse health effects in children (10 to <14 years), adolescents (14 to <18 years) and adults (≥18 years).