Sorbic acid (E200) and its salts (potassium and calcium sorbate: E202 and E203) are allowed for use as preservatives in numerous processed foods. Sorbic acid has a conjugated system of double bonds which makes it susceptible to nucleophilic attack, sometimes giving mutagenic products. Under conditions typical of food processing (50-80 degrees C), we analyzed the cyclic derivatives resulting from a double addition reaction between sorbic acid and various amines. Mutagenesis studies, involving the Ames test and genotoxicity studies with HeLa cells and plasmid DNA, showed that none of the products studied presented either mutagenic or genotoxic activities.