Assessment of Aspartame (E951) Occurrence in Selected Foods and Beverages on the German Market 2000-2022

This study examines the occurrence of the artificial sweetener aspartame (E951) in foods and beverages sampled by food control authorities in Germany between 2000 and 2022. The dataset was obtained through the Consumer Information Act. Out of 53,116 samples analyzed, aspartame was present in 7331 sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Foods Vol. 12; no. 11; p. 2156
Main Authors:	Schorb, Sydney, Gleiss, Katharina, Wedekind, Roland, Suonio, Eero, Kull, Ann-Kathrin, Kuntz, Marcel, Walch, Stephan G, Lachenmeier, Dirk W
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Switzerland MDPI AG 26-05-2023 MDPI
Subjects:	Artificial intelligence Artificial sweeteners Aspartame Beer Beverages Brief Report Cancer Carbonated beverages Carcinogens Chewing gum Computational linguistics Consumer education Consumer information Consumer protection Datasets Diet Evaluation Food additives food control Food groups Food safety Food science Food selection Food supply German national survey Health hazards Laboratories Language processing Natural language interfaces NMR Nuclear magnetic resonance Oncology, Experimental Soft drinks sweeteners Germany food safety risk assessment sweeteners aspartame German national survey food additives food control
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Summary:	This study examines the occurrence of the artificial sweetener aspartame (E951) in foods and beverages sampled by food control authorities in Germany between 2000 and 2022. The dataset was obtained through the Consumer Information Act. Out of 53,116 samples analyzed, aspartame was present in 7331 samples (14%), of which 5703 samples (11%) in nine major food groups were further evaluated. The results showed that aspartame was most commonly found in powdered drink bases (84%), flavored milk drinks (78%), chewing gum (77%), and diet soft drinks (72%). In the solid food groups, the highest mean aspartame content was detected in chewing gum (1543 mg/kg, = 241), followed by sports foods (1453 mg/kg, = 125), fiber supplements (1248 mg/kg, = 11), powdered drink bases (1068 mg/kg, = 162), and candies (437 mg/kg, = 339). Liquid products generally had the highest aspartame content in diet soft drinks (91 mg/L, = 2021), followed by regular soft drinks (59 mg/L, = 574), flavored milk drinks (48 mg/kg, = 207), and mixed beer drinks (24 mg/L, = 40). These results suggest that aspartame is commonly used in some foods and beverages in Germany. The levels of aspartame found were generally within the legal limits set by the European Union. These findings provide the first comprehensive overview of aspartame in the German food market and may be particularly useful in informing the forthcoming working groups of the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the WHO/FAO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), which are in the process of evaluating the human health hazards and risks associated with the consumption of aspartame.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2304-8158 2304-8158
DOI:	10.3390/foods12112156