Some chemicals contained in foods originating from a variety of sources including natural plants, food additives, residual pesticides, mycotoxins and by-products created during food processing and/or cooking have previously been demonstrated to be carcinogenic at various sites in rodents. This review focuses on reported renal carcinogens in natural products such as d-limonene and aristolochic acid (AA), food additives such as potassium bromate (KBrO 3 ) and madder color (MC), as well as mycotoxins such as ochratoxin A (OTA) and citrinin (CTN) and discusses data from reporter gene mutation assays. In addition to in vivo genotoxicity, recent information on several factors related to chemical carcinogenesis, such as DNA modifications and cell proliferation, gave insight into possible modes of action that underlie renal carcinogenesis. Given that neither d-limonene nor CTN induced increases in mutant frequencies (MFs) in some reporter genes, cell proliferation at target sites arising from compensatory and/or direct mitogenic action may play a key role in the carcinogenic mechanism of these compounds. Clear positive results from reporter gene mutation assays for AA, MC and OTA strongly suggest that genotoxic mechanisms are involved in carcinogenesis induced by these agents. While KBrO 3 elevated MFs in the red/gam gene (Spi − ), it did so to a lower extent than did potent genotoxic carcinogens. Accordingly, the participation of genotoxic mechanisms in KBrO 3 -induced renal carcinogenesis may be limited.