Benzoic acid intake from processed foods in South Korea
What it found
In South Korean consumers, estimated daily intake of benzoic acid from processed foods was well below the international acceptable daily intake.
The estimates used food survey and national nutrition survey data.
What they found
Studies in people
Average consumer intake
For average consumers, the estimated daily intake was 207.3 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day. That is 4.1% of the acceptable daily intake set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives.
High consumer intake
For high consumers (95th percentile), the estimated daily intake was 1,406.7 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day. That is 28.1% of the acceptable daily intake.
Natural occurrence added
When the authors included the newly established standard for naturally occurring benzoic acid, the theoretical maximum estimated daily intake was 109.9 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day. That is 2.2% of the acceptable daily intake.
Other findings
Detection in foods
Benzoic acid was found in 1,803 of 127,628 samples, a detection rate of 1.4%. The average amount across all samples was 1.3 mg/kg, and across the samples where it was found it was 89.4 mg/kg.
What the authors conclude
- They report that the estimated daily intake of benzoic acid from processed foods in South Korea was below the acceptable daily intake.
- They also estimated that including naturally occurring benzoic acid would still keep intake below the acceptable daily intake.
How it was done
The authors wanted to check how much benzoic acid people in South Korea take in from processed foods, and to see whether adding naturally occurring benzoic acid would change that.
They measured benzoic acid in 127,628 processed food samples collected in South Korea in 2020. They combined those levels with food consumption data from the 2018 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate daily intake for average and high consumers.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This study estimated intake from food survey and nutrition survey data. It did not measure health effects in people.
- The estimates are based on average food consumption patterns and may not reflect what any one person eats.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Republic of Korea; Sungkyukwan University, Republic of Korea
The paper
- Title
- Exposure assessment of benzoic acid from processed foods in South Korea
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Jung Y, Choi S, Oh KS, Sun N (2022). Exposure assessment of benzoic acid from processed foods in South Korea. Food additives & contaminants. Part A, Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment. doi:10.1080/19440049.2021.1999506PubMed 34781828DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error