EFSA finds sucralose safe when used as currently authorised; cannot confirm safety of extending its use
EFSA’s experts concluded that the sweetener sucralose (E 955) continues to be safe for consumers for its currently authorised uses as a food additive A substance deliberately added to foods or beverages for beneficial technological reasons (e.g. to preserve, flavour, colour or ensure a particular texture). Food additives are not normally consumed by themselves nor used as typical ingredients in food. Following a comprehensive review of all available scientific data, they confirmed the Acceptable Daily Intake The acceptable daily intake (ADI) is an estimate of the amount of a substance in food or drinking water that can be consumed daily over a lifetime without presenting an appreciable risk to health. It is usually expressed as milligrams of the substance per kilogram of body weight and applies to chemical substances such as food additives, pesticide residues and veterinary drugs (ADI) of 15 mg/kg body weight per day and indicated that current consumer exposure Concentration or amount of a particular substance that is taken in by an individual, population or ecosystem in a specific frequency over a certain amount of time remains below this level. However, EFSA could not confirm the safety of additional uses of sucralose.
E 955 is a sweetener, around 600 times sweeter than sugar, that is authorised for use in a range of reduced-sugar and sugar-free foods and beverages.
This assessment is part of an ongoing review of additives approved before 20 January 2009, as required by EU law. EFSA’s experts also assessed a new request to allow sucralose to be used in more fine bakery wares, beyond wafer paper and cones and wafers for ice-cream, which are already approved.
Heating of sucralose
A recent study found that when E 955 is exposed to high temperatures for long periods, chlorine can migrate from sucralose and potentially form chlorinated compounds, the health effects of which are unknown.
“We confirmed that the current uses of sucralose as a food additive are safe. However, we could not reach the same conclusion for the new proposed uses we assessed, as these may involve several industrial processes requiring prolonged high temperatures,” said Laurence Castle, Chair of the EFSA Scientific Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings.
In addition, experts noted that factors such as temperature, cooking times and the amount of sweetener used can also vary widely in home kitchens, meaning that the formation of chlorinated compounds during the preparation of home-made products that require high temperature such as frying and baking with sucralose cannot be excluded. Therefore, EFSA recommended that the European Commission consider the issue of potential formation of chlorinated compounds during domestic cooking using sucralose.
What’s next?
The European Commission and Member States will discuss the follow-up to this EFSA assessment.
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