A toxicological assessment of curdlan.

Curdlan was approved for use by the FDA in December 1996 as a formulation aid, processing aid, stabilizer and thickener or texturizer for use in food. It has been evaluated for safety by a series of animal studies and in vitro tests including acute, subchronic and chronic toxicity studies and reproduction and carcinogenicity studies. In addition, nutritional studies in rodents and tolerance and metabolic studies in man have been carried out. The only effects seen in these studies were reductions in weight gain at the higher dietary concentrations due to the replacement of part of the diet by curdlan, which is calorifically inert. No evidence of any toxicity or carcinogenicity nor of any effects on reproduction was seen, although there was an effect on body weights of the pups with the 15% diet, which was shown in additional studies to be due to the reduced food availability in the animals at this dose level. There was no evidence of effects on the nutritional status of the animals nor on the absorption of minerals. This reviews the available toxicological data on curdlan.