Learn → Glossary → solvent processing aid

Ethylene Dichloride

Level 5 — High concernIn Winter's Dictionary

Ethylene Dichloride is a solvent processing aid — Halogenated hydrocarbon fumigant and solvent

Also: EDC, 1,2-Dichloroethane

What it does

Halogenated hydrocarbon fumigant and solvent

Where you'll see it

Cereal grain, corn grits, cracked rice, fermented malt beverages, spices, animal feed, human milk (residues found)

What the research says

Highly toxic by ingestion, inhalation, skin absorption. NCI found it caused stomach cancer, vascularized cancers, breast cancers, uterine cancers, respiratory tract cancers. Implicated in worker sterility. JECFA: should not be used in food.

Regulatory status

  • US FDA: NIL
  • Notes: FDA tolerance 125 ppm in cereal grain

Sources

  • A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives (Winter): the National Cancer Institute found this compound caused stomach cancer, vascularized cancers of multiple organs, and cancers beneath the skin in male rats