category: food additives: artificial sweeteners

Saccharin, E 954

Saccharin is an artificial sweetener that is used as a food additive. It was the first sweetener produced industrially. Saccharin is produced from sodium salts, potassium salts or calcium salts through chemical synthesis. In the European Union saccharin is legal to use and known as the food additive E 954.

Properties of saccharin

Saccharin has the highest sweetening power of all artificial sweeteners. It is about 550 as high as that of sugar. The human body absorbs saccharin quickly and excretes it unchanged through the urine. It is therefore calorie free. In higher concentrations it has an unpleasant bitter or metallic taste though. For that reason saccharin is mostly used in combination with cyclamate, thaumatin and the sugar substitute xylitol. Saccharin is stable when heated or frozen and keeps its sweetening power in watery solution and products containing acid. It stores well and is suited for cooking and baking.

Use of saccharin

Saccharin is mostly used in form of sodium salt, where it has the greatest solubility and is still 450 times sweeter than sugar. Saccharin can be used in many different products, for example in diet products and special foods without sugar for diabetics. It is also common in lemonade, soft drinks, desserts, sweets and in the production of sweet and sour pickles made from fruits or vegetables.

Recommendations for the use of saccharin

There have long been suspicions that saccharin may be carcinogen. However, many studies have been conducted within the last 20 years and were not able to prove a connection of saccharin and cancer. Depending on the area of use, no more than 80 to 3000 mg saccharin per kilogram or litre should be used.