Stevioside M is a glycoside found in the leaves of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) that has been identified as a potential sweetener. The safety of stevioside M was evaluated according to the national food safety standard, using the acute oral toxicity test, Ames test, mouse bone marrow erythrocyte micronucleus test, mouse spermatocyte chromosome aberration test, and 28 day oral toxicity test. The results showed that the acute oral MTD values of stevioside M in both male and female mice were higher than 10000 mg/kg·bw, indicating that stevioside M was practically non-toxic; the results of Ames test, mouse bone marrow erythrocyte micronucleus test, mouse spermatocyte chromosome aberration test were negative; after the 28 day administration with the basic diet incorporated by stevioside M at designed doses of 2000, 1000 and 500 mg/kg, no significant changes were found in indices including body weight, food intake, food utilization rate, hematology, blood biochemistry and histopathology between each dose group and control group. The No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) of female and male mice were 2650 and 2421 mg/ kg·bw. The results indicate that stevioside M has no acute toxicity, genetic toxicity or short-term toxicity, and is therefore of high food safety.
