A sweetener is a food additive that imparts a sweet taste to food products. Sweeteners have been increasingly used in Korea since the approval of sodium saccharin and d-sorbitol in 1962. Unlike food contaminants, humans are exposed to food additives only through the consumption of processed food products. For exposure assessments of sweeteners, the dietary intakes of food products containing acesulfame-K, aspartame, saccharin-Na, and sucralose were determined, and the resulting calculated estimated daily intake (EDI) values were compared directly with each additive's ADI. The poundage method was used to calculate the daily intake per capita for 12 additional sweeteners, such as lactitol, for which appropriate analytical methods for food products do not exist. The risk, as evaluated by comparing the EDI with the ADI, was determined to be 2.9% for acesulfame-K, 0.8% for aspartame, 3.6% for saccharin-Na, 4.3% for steviol glycosides, and 2.1% for sucralose. No hazardous effect was predicted for the other 11 sweeteners, including lactitol.
Keywords: Food additive; dietary intake; poundage method; safety assessment; sweetener.