July 26, 2012

The use of niacin and niacinamide as nutritional feed additives in livestock is safe for consumers as declared by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

A report from EFSA's panel on additives and products or substances used in animal feed (FEEDAP) focused especially on its use in pigs and poultry, although it is also used in cattle. The assessment followed a request from Netherlands-based ingredients company Lonza Benelux for authorisation to deliver niacin and niacinamide through enriched drinking water - a request that sparked a general EFSA assessment of these related additives under EU under feed regulation 1831/2003.

In its conclusion, the panel said they were safe for livestock, even when fed "10 times the requirements and use levels" being considered by Lonza: "The… use of niacin in animal nutrition is not of safety concern for consumers."

The only potential problem was for livestock workers handling niacin who "might be exposed to a respirable dust… potentially harmful to their health", added the panel.