if you compare the levels—which went as high as 50,000 milligrams/killigrams per day— to what humans are actually exposed to, we're talking orders of magnitude. It was a huge amount, Norbert Kaminski, PhD, a professor of pharmacology & toxicology and director of the Center for Research on Ingredient Safety at Michigan State University told Health.

Regarding flavoring substances, JECFA concluded that there is no safety concern and established specifications for 21 agents across three classes: aliphatic primary alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids, acetals, and esters containing additional oxygenated functional groups; linear and branched-chain aliphatic, unsaturated and unconjugated alcohols, aldehydes, acids, and related esters; and saturated aliphatic acyclic linear primary alcohols, aldehydes, and acids.