ABSTRACT
Sweeteners are de™ned as food additives that are used to provide a sweet taste to food or as a tabletop sweetener. Tabletop sweeteners are products that include any permitted sweeteners and are intended for use as an alternative to sugar. Foods with sweetening properties, such as sugar and honey, are not additives and are excluded from the scope of of™cial regulations. Sweeteners are classi™ed as either high intensity or bulk. High-intensity sweeteners possess a sweet taste, but are noncaloric, provide essentially no bulk to food, have greater sweetness than sugar, and are therefore used at very low levels. On the other hand, bulk sweeteners are generally carbohydrates, providing energy (calories) and bulk to food. These have a similar sweetness to sugar and are used at comparable levels. High-intensity sweeteners are classi™ed as synthetic arti™cial [i.e., acesulfame, alitame, aspartame (ASP), cyclamate, neotame (NTM), saccharin, and sucralose], semisynthetic [neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDC)], and natural (stevioside, traumatin, and glycyrrhizin).
