Abstract: The edible safety of theanine was investigated according to Standard of Health Food Test and Assessment. Acute toxicity test in mice showed that the maximum tolerance dose (MTD) was higher than 20 g/kg. All three genetic tests including Ames test, mouse bone marrow micronucleus test and mouse teratospermia test showed negative results. Thirty-day feeding test showed that physical appearance and the indices of hematology, biochemistry and organ coefficients of rats had no significant difference when compared with those in the control group. All these results suggest that compound theanine preparation is highly safe with neither acute toxicity nor genotoxicity.

Key words: theanine, edible safety, acute toxicity, genotoxicity, maximum tolerance dose