Title: Alternative Sweeteners

496 Fry and Hoek
of the salt assists in giving an immediate release of sweetness when the tablet
comes to be used.
In common with hard candy, the use of aspartame-acesulfame in a variety
of low-moisture products, tablets, and the like is the subject of widespread patent
applications (9).
VII. TOXICOLOGY
The toxicology of aspartame-acesulfame is relatively straightforward. The synthesis
of the salt is, in effect, a recrystallization and a purification of the raw
material sweeteners. Those raw materials are already food grade, and the synthesis
of Twinsweet simply results in further reduction of any trace impurities. No
new impurities are introduced and, as a result, there are no toxicological issues
associated with the manufacture. Furthermore, the salt dissociates immediately
on solution to release only known, widely permitted sweetener molecules, namely
aspartame and acesulfame. Once in solution then, aspartame-acesulfame salt behaves
the same as a mixture of aspartame and acesulfame-K from which the
functionless potassium has been removed. Accordingly, human dietary exposure
is not to Twinsweet itself, which does not exist in solution, but to the permitted
sweeteners from which it is derived, and the toxicological fate of aspartameacesulfame
is the same as that of those existing, permitted sweeteners.
There remains the question of the amount of aspartame-acesulfame used
and whether the quantities likely to be used will affect dietary intakes of either
aspartame or acesulfame. This is also easily resolved. The salt is used to provide
the same amounts of aspartame and acesulfame as would have been present had
these ‘‘parent’’ sweeteners been used separately. At the same time, no new uses
have been proposed for the salt. It owes its position to the unique way it overcomes
technological problems and offers consumer benefits in existing applications.
Accordingly, use of aspartame-acesulfame will not affect the human exposure
data and predictions on which regulatory approval for aspartame and
acesulfame has been based. In short, from a toxicological point of view, there
is no difference between Twinsweet and a physical blend of aspartame and
acesulfame-K, and the use of aspartame-acesulfame introduces no new toxicological
issues.
VIII. REGULATORY STATUS
Aspartame-acesulfame is only applicable to products in which both aspartame
and acesulfame-K are permitted to be used jointly. There are countries where
quantitative limits are applied to one or both of these sweeteners. In such lands,
the use of the salt must conform to the limits in terms of the amounts of aspartame