Occurrence of Aspartame (E951) in a German National Survey of Foods and Beverages 2000-2022: Trends and Insights

抄録

This study aimed to investigate the occurrence of the artificial sweetener aspartame (E951) in a wide range of foods and beverages sampled by food control authorities in Germany between 2000 and 2022. The dataset was obtained through the Consumer Information Act. The results showed that aspartame was present in a wide range of product groups tested, most commonly in powdered drink bases (84%) and flavored milk drinks (78%). In the solid food groups, the highest mean aspartame content was found in chewing gum (1543 mg/kg, n=241), followed by sports foods (1453 mg/kg, n=125), fiber supplements (1248 mg/kg, n=11), powdered drink bases (1068 mg/kg, n=162), and candies (437 mg/kg, n=339). Liquid products generally had the highest aspartame content in diet soft drinks (91 mg/l, n=2021), followed by regular soft drinks (59 mg/l, n= 574), flavored milk drinks (48 mg/kg, n=207), and mixed beer drinks (24 mg/l, n=40). These results suggest that aspartame is widely used in foods and beverages in Germany and that certain product groups contain higher concentrations of the sweetener than others. However, 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.