Registration Dossier
Registration Dossier
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EC number: 203-931-2 | CAS number: 112-05-0
Endpoint summary
Administrative data
Link to relevant study record(s)
Description of key information
Rapid absorption of free fatty acids from the gut following ingestion of either natural or synthetic fats and oils or of free fatty acid or its salt. Rapid and complete metabolism in the liver, with no other metabolites than carbon dioxide and water. No bioaccumulation.
Key value for chemical safety assessment
- Bioaccumulation potential:
- no bioaccumulation potential
- Absorption rate - oral (%):
- 100
Additional information
Pelargonic is a naturally occurring fatty acid (see EFSA, 2021). Like all other naturally occurring fatty acids, pelargonic acid is utilized as food substrate for virtually all life forms including bacteria, fungi, algae, plants, animals and human beings (Zschintzsch, 2003). Fatty acids are required for the organism's energy supply and biosynthesis of a variety of biomolecules including adipose and membrane lipids.
In mammals and humans, absorption takes place through the cell membranes of the intestinal brush border cells of the jejunum, regardless of whether the fatty acid moiety is ingested as free fatty acid, as a salt or as a component of lipids. Short and intermediate chain fatty acids, like pelargonic acid, are absorbed directly and rapidly from the intestinal lumen into the portal circulation where they are bound to serum proteins and are transported to the liver and other tissues (Zschintzsch, 2003).
ß-oxidation in the mitochondria is the main metabolic pathway (Zschintzsch, 2003; Cragg, 2001; WHO, 1998). Even-numbered fatty acids are degraded via ß-oxidation to CO2and acetyl-CoA, under the release of biochemical energy. Odd-numbered fatty acids like pelargonic acid are similarly decomposed to CO2 and propionyl-CoA. The latter undergoes further degradation to succinyl-CoA resp. acetyl-CoA. These compounds are oxidized via the citric acid cycle to CO2 and water. No other ultimate excretion products than CO2 and water will be formed. Thus, pelargonic acid or metabolites thereof are unlikely to accumulate (Zschintzsch, 2003).
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), Alvarez F, et al., 2021. Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance pelargonic acid (nonanoic acid). EFSA Journal 2021;19 (8):6813, 28 pp. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2021.6813
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