Bay laurel

Common name

Bay laurel

Botanical name

Laurus nobilis

Family

Lauraceae

Part or material

Leaf

Classification

Botanical

Educational category

Culinary Botanicals

Laurus nobilis L., Lauraceae. The leaf, the leaf essential oil and the fruit are addressed as separate materials by the bodies that have assessed them.

No medicines regulator has issued a human herbal monograph for bay leaf; the European food-safety assessment covers laurel leaf oil as a feed additive, and the European veterinary residue report covers the fruit. The safety point below concerns the whole leaf as used in cooking.

Whole bay leaves are rigid and are not meant to be swallowed; published case reports record leaves becoming lodged in the throat or gullet and requiring endoscopic removal, and obstruction and perforation of the digestive tract after a leaf was swallowed inadvertently.

Part of this record is still being confirmed with its issuing authority. What is published is what the sources carry, and nothing more.

• EFSA FEEDAP opinion on laurel leaf oil · European Food Safety Authority
• EMEA Lauri fructus summary report · Institutional reference source
• case reports in Annals of Internal Medicine · Peer-reviewed scientific literature

This entry is educational. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not a statement about any Pam Oh Herbs Collection or its contents. It carries no dosage and no claim of effect.

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