The mutagenic activity of chitosan oligosaccharide and its antimutagenic effect against 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoxaline (MeIQx) were investigated using the Salmonella/Ames test. No mutagenic activity was found in the Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 98 and TA 100, either with or without S9 activation. In contrast, chitosan oligosaccharide showed an inhibitory effect on the mutagenic activity of the cooked food mutagen, MeIQx, in the presence of S9. The influence of chitosan oligosaccharide on the genotoxicity of MeIQx was examined using a host-mediated assay in mice. The oligosaccharide was administered for 14 consecutive days (intragastric application at doses of 0.1 or 0.5 g/kg body wt) to mice. S. typhimurium TA 98 was given intravenously before an oral dose of MeIQx (4.5 mg/kg body wt.). The number of $his^+$ revertants were determined from the Ever of mice. The intragastric application of oligosaccharide led to a 47% reduction in the number of mutants induced by MeIQx (p<0.05). These results suggested that chitosan oligosaccharide had antimutagenic properties against MeIQx in vitro and in vivo.