Prop. 65 Public Comment Period Extended for Chemical Found in Cooked Wines and Sauces

California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has extended the deadline for public comment on its notice of intent to list 4- methylimidazole (4-MEI) as a chemical known to the state to cause cancer under Proposition 65 (Prop. 65). The new deadline is May 29, 2009.

According to a news source, the proposed intent to list has generated significant opposition from grocers and other food industry representatives who argue that the chemical, which is found in foods such as wine, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce after cooking, “is just the latest in a series of near-ubiquitous chemicals created as an unavoidable consequence of heating the natural constituents of foods.” Once a chemical is listed under Prop. 65, products containing the chemical cannot be sold without warnings. The industry groups reportedly contend, “listing 4-MEI can be expected to impact a wide swath of foods by producing warnings, changes in cooking methods, changes in diets, litigation and other consequences—intended or otherwise.”

OEHHA rejected these arguments in March 2009, relying on the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP’s) formal identification of 4-MEI as a carcinogen. A 2007 NTP technical report apparently “concluded that there is clear evidence of the carcinogenic activity of 4-MEI in both male and female B6C3F1 mice.” OEHHA has also stated, “4-MEI has been shown to be present in certain foods, though its use as a chemical intermediate in the production of certain pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, dyes and pigments, and as a component of imidazole-phenoxyalkanal oven cleaners and other products indicates that exposure to the chemical extends beyond food.” See Inside EPA, April 10, 2009.