Environmental and toxicological profile of artificial sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are a ubiquitous part of western diets. They are food additives that provide sweetness with no or at least few calories unlike natural sugars. Within the European Union (EU) the safety of artificial sweeteners is assured via a comprehensive regulatory process that seeks to ensure that consumers are protected from food related risks. Safety evaluations are not a one-off assessment but are reviewed and updated periodically to account for new scientific information or to consider emerging possible concerns for health or the environment. In 2010 the European Commission (EC) requested the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) begin a re-evaluation of the safety of all previously authorised food additives by 2020. AERU have undertaken two projects that have sought to characterise the environmental and toxicological profile of artificial sweeteners that are used in food.
2018 to 2019: Inventory and synthesis of the biological and toxicological data of artificial sweeteners (Ref. GP/EFSA/FIP/2018/01 - Lot 3)
The overall objective of this study is to perform an inventory of all the biological and toxicological data available to EFSA in order to collect and collate all available documents, and to provide a synthesis of each of the study/report submitted.
2018 to 2019: Artificial sweeteners and their potential for environmental impact (Ref. RC/EFSA/FIP/2018/02)
Due to growing concerns about artificial sweeteners in the environment EFSA have commissioned a study to undertake a review of published literature on artificial sweeteners and their potential for environmental impact.
Publications
- Lewis,
K.A. and Tzilivakis, J. (2019) Inventory and synthesis of the biological and
toxicological data received in response to the call for data on sweeteners.
European Food Safety Authority, Parma, Italy.
- Lewis, K.A.
and Tzilivakis, J. (2019) Review and synthesis of data on the potential
environmental impact of artificial sweeteners. European Food Safety
Authority, Parma, Italy.
Contact
Prof Kathy Lewis
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