Astaxanthin is a pigmenting carotenoid naturally occurring in plankton, crustaceans and fish. The FEEDAP Panel considers synthetic astaxanthin safe for salmonids up to 100 mg/kg complete diet. This conclusion is extrapolated to ornamental fish at the same dose. Based on a BMDL10 of 3.4 mg/kg bw per day (calculated for liver hypertrophy in female rat in a carcinogenicity study) and applying an uncertainty factor of 100, it is possible to set an ADI of 0.034 mg ATX/kg bw (equivalent to 2.0 mg ATX per 60 kg person per day).
