Background
McNeil Specialty Products Company (MSPC), a wholly
owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has received
approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
to market Splenda®, the only low-calorie sweetener that is
made from sugar, tastes like sugar, and can be used virtually
anywhere sugar is used, including cooking and baking. The
FDA granted approval for the use of Splenda® as a general
sweetener. FDA approval follows approvals from leading
food safety authorities and experts from around the world,
including the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives
(JECFA) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization/World Health Organization, and over 30
regulatory agencies and health ministries.
"Splenda® tastes like sugar because it's made from sugar. It
has no unpleasant aftertaste and keeps its sweet taste over
time and when exposed to high temperatures," says MSPC
general manager Neil Polo. "Unlike sugar, Splenda® has no
calories and doesn't promote tooth decay. Splenda® allows
food and beverage companies to create great-tasting
low-calorie products."
Splenda® keeps its sugar-like taste in beverages such as
carbonated soft drinks longer than any other low-calorie
sweetener, greatly extending the shelf life of many products.
The stability of Splenda® also makes it better suited for
baked products, canned goods and other foods subjected to
high temperatures in processing. "Splenda® is the only
low-calorie sweetener that delivers consistent, high quality
sweetness in a broad range of products under all temperature
and storage conditions," notes Polo.
Internationally, millions of consumers have been using
Splenda® since 1991 in hundreds of reduced-calorie and
reduced-sugar products such as carbonated soft drinks,
shelf-stable fruit drinks, jams, processed fruit products (e.g.
apple sauce), yogurt, and baked goods. U.S. consumers can
expect to see products sweetened with Splenda® appearing
on supermarket shelves during the next 2 to 3 years.
Features/Benefits
Splenda® tastes like sugar with no unpleasant aftertaste. It
has no calories and does not promote tooth decay. Splenda®
does not interact with other food ingredients or breakdown
when exposed to the hot temperatures, acidic conditions, and
storage requirements common to many food manufacturing
and distribution systems, such as those for carbonated soft
drinks, dairy products, hot-filled teas, canned fruits, and
baked goods. While taste and performance characteristics of
other high-intensity sweeteners have limited the range of
low-calorie products currently available, the exceptional
stability of Splenda® make it ideally suited for use in almost all
foods and beverages.
Splenda® is the sweetener of choice for millions of consumers
around the world. Splenda® provides a unique combination
of great taste and versatility unmatched by any other low
calorie sweeter on the market today.
Sweet Choice For Home Use
Made from sugar so it tastes like sugar
No unpleasant aftertaste
May be used anywhere you currently use sugar (tea,
coffee, cereal and fresh fruit)
Only 2 calories per teaspoon
Does not promote tooth decay
Available in granular form with cup-for-cup equivalent
sweetness to sugar for easy measuring and use
Also available in convenient packets
Can be used to replace sugar in most cooking and
baking recipes
Millions of consumers worldwide have enjoyed the
great taste of Splenda®
Can be safely used by the whole family
The Ideal Low Calorie Sweetener For Your Favorite
Food And Beverage Brands
Made from sugar so it tastes like sugar
No unpleasant aftertaste
No calories
Does not promote tooth decay
Approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar and can
be used like sugar
Exceptional sweeteness delivery in high temperature
and low pH foods and beverages
Ideal performance under UHT, HTST and retort
processing conditions
No chemical interaction with flavors or other
ingredients
Currently being used as the primary sweetener in
hundreds of products worldwide
Can be safely used in all food and beverage products
No warning labels required for products sweetened
with Splenda®
Not metabolized by microorganisms in cultured dairy
systems
Origin/Discovery
Splenda® was discovered in 1976 through a collaborative
research project between scientists at Tate & Lyle and
researchers in carbohydrate chemistry at Queen Elizabeth
College, University of London. Splenda® is made from sugar
through a patented, multi-step process that selectively
replaces three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule
with three chlorine atoms. The result is an exceptionally stable
sweetener that keeps sugar's taste without sugar's calories.
After consumption it passes through the body without being
metabolized or broken down.
Safety
Splenda® has been subjected to one of the most extensive
and thorough safety testing programs ever conducted on a
new food additive. More than 100 scientific studies,
conducted and evaluated over a twenty year period, clearly
demonstrate that Splenda® is safe for everyone to consume.
The safety of Splenda® has been confirmed by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration and approvals by the Joint Food and
Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization
(FAO/WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives
(JECFA) and the health ministries of over 30 countries,
including the Health Protection Branch of Health and Welfare
Canada, Australia's National Food Authority, and the Health
Ministry of Mexico. Millions of people have consumed
Splenda® either in tabletop usage at home, or through
hundreds of food and beverage products introduced
worldwide since 1991.
Taste Profile
The taste and flavor profile of Splenda® has been studied
extensively by several independent research organizations.
The results of these studies have consistently demonstrated
that Splenda® tastes like sugar and has no unpleasant
aftertaste. Two studies were conducted using trained sensory
panelists from the National Food Laboratories to compare the
primary taste attributes of Splenda® and sugar. Based on
rigorous analyses of the sweeteners at various concentrations,
Splenda® and sugar were shown to have very similar taste
and flavor profiles as shown below:
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Long Shelf Life
Splenda® is very stable in foods and beverages during
long-term storage, over a wide range of pH, and at high
temperatures. This allows for low-calorie products to maintain
the sugar-like sweetness of Splenda® through processing and
over long periods of time. Results from a study of a diet cola
beverage (pH 3.1) sweetened with either Splenda® or
aspartame showed that, after six months of storage at 73°F,
100% of the Splenda® remained unchanged compared with
54% of the aspartame1. At higher temperatures the loss of
aspartame was accelerated, whereas Splenda® retained all of
its sugar-like taste.
Click to see an enlargement.
Heat Stability
The exceptional heat stability of Splenda® makes it ideally
suited for use in baked products. In studies representing a
range of baked goods, no measurable loss of Splenda®
occurred. Similarly, in other processed food applications such
as canned fruit, jams and jellies, and syrups, there was
virtually no loss of Splenda® during processing and
throughout typical product shelf life.
Click to see an enlargement.
Solubility
Splenda® has excellent solubility characteristics for use in
food and beverage manufacturing, where the slow and limited
solubility associated with some other high-intensity
sweetneners can cause problems. Splenda® is highly soluble
in water and in ethanol, both of which are commonly used in
food processing. At 68°F Splenda® has a solubility of 28%,
compared to the less than one percent solubility observed for
aspartame at the same temperature.
Click to see an enlargement.
Ingredient Compatability
Splenda® has superb compatability with commonly used food
ingredients, including flavors, seasonings, and preservatives.
Click to see an enlargement.
Click to see an enlargement.
REFERENCES
1. G.D. Searle Co., Aspartame Food Additive Petition
2A3661. Splenda® Food Additive Petition 7A3987, pp.
623-731. Arrhenius extrapolation was used to estimate 73F
data.
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