Safety and efficacy of two solvent extracts of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) when used as feed additive for cats and dogs (Kemin Nutrisurance Europe SRL)

Abstract

Following a request from the European Commission, EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of two rosemary extracts obtained from the ■■■■■ of Rosmarinus officinalis L., as a technological (antioxidant) feed additive for cats and dogs. The two rosemary extracts were obtained through two different solvent extraction methods, acetone and ethanol. The additives were specified to contain carnosic acid and carnosol as the reference antioxidative compounds at a minimum content of their sum as ≥ 10% in the case of the acetone extract and ≥ 5% for the ethanol extract. Based on the data available, the FEEDAP Panel concluded that the maximum safe concentrations of the additives in feed were 300 and 50 mg/kg feed, for dogs and cats, respectively. No data on potential effects on respiratory system were available; however, as the products are in liquid form, the FEEDAP Panel considered that the exposure through inhalation is unlikely. The additives were shown to be irritant to skin and consequently they were considered also eye irritants. Due to the lack of data, the FEEDAP Panel cannot conclude on the potential of the additives to be skin sensitisers. The food and feed matrices in which the additives are intended to be used are of comparable nature. Therefore, the antioxidant effect observed when the additives are used in food is expected to be observed also when the additives are used in feed at the recommended concentrations.

Rosemary: Unrevealing an old aromatic crop as a new source of promising functional food additive—A review

“…The combination of N. sativa seeds and rosemary leaves can reduce the population of protozoa, methanogen, Fibrobacter succinogenes , and Ruminococcus albus in dorper lambs (Odhaib, Adeyemi, Ahmed et al., 2018). However, the FEEDAP Panel (EFSA Panel on additives, products, or substances used in animal feed) suggested that rosemary additives may be irritating to animal skin and eyes (EFSA Panel on Additives et al., 2022). According to the data from the FEEDAP Panel, the maximum safe dietary concentrations of rosemary additives for dogs and cats are 300 mg/kg (acetone extract) and 50 mg/kg (ethanol extract, EE), respectively.…”

“…It is a commercially important aromatic evergreen shrub with dark green leaves, pale blue flowers, and upright stems (Figure 1) (Farkhondeh et al., 2019), and it is regionally native to the European countries and the Mediterranean region. Nowadays, it is widely cultivated all over the world as a popular decorative plant (EFSA Panel on Additives et al., 2022) and an economically promising crop (Bourhia et al., 2019), and its main producing countries are Spain, Morocco, and Tunisia (Mwithiga et al., 2022). In particular, rosemary is cultivated in significant amounts in China, India, Algerian, Northern Europe, England, and North America.…”