Smoke flavor

What the research says

What EFSA found. In November 2023 the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published its assessments of the eight smoke flavorings on the EU market, whose authorizations were up for renewal. It concluded that six of them contain genotoxic substances, chemicals that can damage the DNA in cells, and therefore raise safety concerns, and that it could not rule out safety concerns for the other two because data were lacking. It used its 2021 method for mixtures: if one component of a mixture is confirmed as genotoxic, the whole mixture is treated as genotoxic. (EFSA, Smoke flavourings: Q&A with Wim Mennes, chair of its working group on flavourings, November 16, 2023.)

What EFSA didn't find. EFSA did not estimate how likely harm is from eating smoke-flavored food; in its words, that chance "has not been investigated by EFSA". Its assessments are deliberately conservative, built on worst-case assumptions. So the finding is a hazard in the flavorings themselves, not a measured risk from any food, and it says nothing about the amount in a particular product. It also says nothing about the smoke flavorings sold outside the EU, which EFSA did not review.

What the EU did. On April 24, 2024 the EU's member states endorsed the European Commission's proposal not to renew the eight authorizations; the Commission's announcement says EFSA concluded that, for all eight, genotoxicity concerns are either confirmed or can't be ruled out. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2067 of July 31, 2024 took them off the EU list. Foods made with them could still be placed on the market until July 1, 2026, or until July 1, 2029 for cheese, meat and fish, where the flavoring replaces traditional smoking. In January 2026, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/89 refused to renew a smoke flavoring authorized as a feed additive for dogs and cats. EFSA could not conclude it was safe for them, because it contains benzofuran and styrene, substances of potential concern for genotoxicity, and the Commission noted that dogs and cats generally eat a less varied diet over their whole lives, so their exposure is expected to be higher than people's. Dog and cat food made with it had to be withdrawn from the EU market by August 4, 2026.

Why we flag it, and why only a caution. Smoke flavorings are still used in the US, and a label that says natural smoke flavor or hickory smoke flavor doesn't say which flavoring it is or how much is in the food. We don't know whether any product here uses one of the flavorings EFSA assessed. So we flag the line as a caution, not an avoid: the concern is a hazard the regulator could not rule out, not a harm shown in pets.