Toxicological safety assessment of the human‐identical milk oligosaccharide 3′‐sialyllactose sodium salt

Human breastmilk is a mixture of nutrients, hormones and bioactive molecules that are vital for infant growth and development. Infant formula (IF) lacks many of these compounds, most notably human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), which are abundant in breastmilk but scarce in IF. Sialyllactoses, such as 3′‐sialyllactose, constitute a large portion of the HMO fraction. To produce IF that matches breastmilk more closely, biosynthesized human‐identical milk oligosaccharides (structurally identical to HMOs) such as 3′‐sialyllactose sodium salt (3′‐SL) are proposed for use in IF and foods for the general population. The safety assessment of 3′‐SL comprised in vitro genotoxicity tests and a 90‐day oral (gavage) toxicity study. This is the first 90‐day study conducted with 3′‐SL using neonatal rats (7 days old at the start of dosing—equivalent age to newborn human infants in terms of central nervous system and reproductive development), demonstrating the safety of 3′‐SL for consumption by infants, the most sensitive age group. The neonatal rats received 3′‐SL at doses up to 5,000 mg/kg body weight (BW)/day and reference controls received 5,000 mg/kg BW/day of fructooligosaccharide (an ingredient approved for use in IF) for comparison with the high‐dose 3′‐SL group, followed by a 4‐week recovery period. There was no evidence of genotoxicity in vitro. In the absence of any test item‐related adverse effects in the 90‐day study, the high dose (5,000 mg/kg BW/day) was established as the no‐observed‐adverse‐effect level. This confirms the safety of 3′‐SL for use in IF for infants, as well as in functional foods for the general population.