You may be confusing the National Electric Code NEC, and the Underwriter Laboratories UL.
‘The NEC is what all electricians and manufacturers go by.
UL does not rate or rule on loading, they rate an appliance as meeting their standards.
From the NEC code,
If you have a branch circuit supplying nothing but continuous loads, (not motors), then the minimum conductor size must have an ampacity of 125% of the load by 210.19(A)(1) and the overcurrent protection must be 125% of the load by 210.20(A). Therefore, the breaker must be loaded to no more than 80% of its rating. These were not changed in the 2002 code.
The UL code agrees with the NEC,
From the 2003 UL white book
in practical terms, of real world experience, If you load ONE leg of a 50 amp breaker with 45 amps for 30 to 60 minutes you will trip the breaker. If you load both legs with 45 amps, it will trip the breaker in 30 minutes or less. And if, as you say, you load it with 48 amps on both legs, you will be going out to the breaker box every five minutes and after the second or third time, you will be buying a new breaker. I only say this as a retired Registered Electrical Engineer with 42 years of experience.
The major problem you risk by exceeding 80% of the rated capacity of a circuit is a fire.