Title: Alternative Sweeteners

252 Embuscado and Patil
VII. REGULATORY STATUS
Erythritol has been approved and marketed in Japan since 1990. It is used in
candies, chocolates; soft drinks; chewing gum; yogurt; fillings and coatings in
cookies, jellies, and jams; and as a sugar substitute in Japan. In early 1997, the
Food and Drug Administration accepted the generally recognized as safe (GRAS)
affirmation and dental health claim petitions for erythritol. The GRAS status of
erythritol was based on the large body of published safety data including animal
toxicological and clinical studies. The consumption of erythritol from its natural
occurrence in foods is estimated to be 25 mg/person/day in the United States
and is 106 mg/person/day in Japan. On the basis of the extensive food safety
database and other related studies, an independent food safety expert panel concluded
that erythritol is GRAS under the conditions of its intended use (27, 31).
The maximum use levels of erythritol based on current good manufacturing practice
are summarized in Table 9.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank J.C. Troostembergh and P. de Cock (Cerestar Europe) and F. Turnak
(Cerestar USA) for critically reviewing our manuscript and providing us with
several references. We acknowledge the valuable studies on erythritol undertaken
by our European colleagues. We also thank S. Jackson for acquiring important
articles from various sources; C. Austin, J. Rorher, and E. Hakmiller (Cerestar
USA) for their contribution; E. Embuscado for her computer search on erythritol
and providing several key references. ME thanks I. Abbas (Cerestar USA) for
guidance and for giving her the opportunity to study an exciting and fascinating
group of alternative sweeteners, the polyols.
REFERENCES
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2. J Goossens, M Gonze. Nutritional properties and applications of erythritol: a unique
combination? In: TH Grenby, ed. Advances in Sweeteners. Gaithersburg, MD:
Aspen Publishers, 1995, pp 150–186.
3. GP Roberts, A MacDiarmid, P Gleed. The presence of erythritol in the fetal fluid
of fallow deer. Res Vet Science 20:154–256, 1976.
4. M Tomana, JT Prchal, L Cooper Garner, HW Skala, SA Barker. Gas chromatographic
analysis of lens monosaccharides. J Lab Clin Med 103:137–142, 1984.