Consumers, food producers, retailers, and restaurants are currently confronted with a crucial decision as one of the most commonly employed artificial sweeteners worldwide is on the brink of being categorized as a potential carcinogen. In July, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, will officially label aspartame as "possibly carcinogenic to humans" for the first time. Aspartame is a chemical used in various products, including Coca-Cola diet sodas and Mars' chewing gum. It's important to note that the IARC ruling does not take into account safe consumption levels. Recommendations regarding individual consumption come from a separate WHO expert committee called JECFA, which focuses on food additives.
Questioning the International Agency for Research on Cancer's assessment, several consumer industry trade organizations, whose members utilize aspartame, raised concerns on Thursday. Senior equities analyst at CFRA Research, Garrett Nelson, noted that the potential repercussions of this news would rely heavily on the level of attention the story receives, potentially leading to a negative impact on sales volumes of lower-calorie sodas.
Some Snapple beverages and Mrs. Butterworth syrups produced by Conagra contain aspartame. Nelson suggests that this report may lead beverage companies and trade associations to challenge the findings and consider substituting alternative sweeteners, such as stevia, in their recipes.
Companies have probably started experimenting with formulas to make sure that the flavor of their goods stays constant, he continued. Analysts noted that consumer corporations could wait to reformulate in order to see how the world's food and medicine regulators would respond to the IARC's conclusion.
Aspartame is one of the most commonly used sweeteners in the world and has been a staple component of packaged goods for decades. This raises the question of how soon other forms of sweeteners may be created in large enough quantities to serve as replacements.
After carefully examining all the relevant data, regulators approved its use on a global scale. Meanwhile, significant food and beverage producers have defended its use for decades.
For more than 30 years, aspartame has been used as a strong sweetener in the UK. According to Tom Sanders, emeritus professor of nutrition and dietetics at King's College London, it is routinely used at concentrations of up to 500 mg/liter; however, this is frequently lower because it is combined with acesulfame K.
DIFFICULT HABIT TO BREAK Despite this, a number of large corporations have started a trend in recent years of eliminating or drastically decreasing aspartame from their goods in response to customer and medical expert concerns.
In 2014, General Mills made a significant change by opting for the widely recognized sweetener Splenda instead of aspartame in Yoplait Light. Hershey's chocolate packs labeled "Zero Sugar" proudly declare their absence of aspartame. Nevertheless, changing consumer behaviors and preferences has proven to be a formidable obstacle. In 2015, PepsiCo eliminated aspartame from a selection of its diet sodas in the United States, opting for a combination of sucralose and acesulfame potassium. However, they subsequently reintroduced aspartame in certain products the following year, only to remove it once more in 2020. Swapping one sweetener for another is a challenging task due to the different levels of sweetness and prices associated with each sweetener, as they are comprised of unique chemical compounds. This complexity adds difficulty to the process of substituting one ingredient with another. For example, aspartame is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and comes with a higher cost compared to saccharin, a similar cost to sucralose, and a lower cost than stevia, according to a reliable source in the sweetener industry. The explanation provided by the source stated that the process of replacing aspartame with any other sweetener is not simple due to various factors that need to be considered, such as shelf life, storage and drying conditions, heat resistance, and food processing techniques. As a result, a direct one-to-one substitution for aspartame is not always feasible. Over the past decade, sales of certain sodas, sweet foods, and beverages have seen a decline as some consumers express concerns about excessive sugar intake, while others shift away from diet products due to worries related to sweeteners.