FDA Approves High-Intensity Sweetener Sucralose

The Food and Drug Administration today announced its approval of a new sweetener, sucralose, for use in a wide variety of food products.

Sucralose is manufactured by McNeil Specialty Products, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, N.J.

The non-nutritive, high-intensity sweetener is made from a process that begins with sucrose. It is a free-flowing, water soluble, white crystalline powder that on average is about 600 times sweeter than sugar.

Sucralose is being approved for use in baked goods, baking mixes, non-alcoholic beverages, chewing gum, coffee and tea products, confections and frostings, fats and oils, frozen dairy desserts and mixes, fruit and water ices, gelatins, puddings and fillings, jams and jellies, milk products, processed fruits and fruit juices, sugar substitutes, sweet sauces, toppings and syrups. It can also be used as a "table-top sweetener"-added directly to foods by consumers.

Edited by Pam Ahlberg