Watch your food labels for a new synthetic sweetener that may soon be sneaking into anything labeled “sugar-free”, “diet”, “lite”, or “low-calorie”.
Advantame has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a general-purpose sweetener and flavor enhancer in food, except meat and poultry. New food additives must be approved by the FDA before they may be marketed in the United States. Advantame is the 6th high-intensity sweetener approved by the FDA.
All synthetic sweeteners are toxic and bad for the human body. Don’t be fooled by thinking that synthetic sweeteners will help you lose weight, either, because studies have proven that they do just the opposite.
Advantame is a free-flowing, water soluble, white crystalline powder that is stable even at higher temperatures, and can be used as a tabletop sweetener as well as in cooking applications.
Advantame has been approved for use as a general-purpose sweetener and flavor enhancer and can be used in baked goods, non-alcoholic beverages (including soft drinks), chewing gum, confections and frostings, frozen desserts, gelatins and puddings, jams and jellies, processed fruits and fruit juices, toppings, and syrups.
Unless you read the label, you won’t even know it’s there. Consumer beware!
Upon publication of the final rule, the food additive petition process includes a 30 day period to file objections. Objections can be submitted electronically to the FDA docket through FDA-2009-F-0303
To submit objections by mail, send to FDA at:
Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061
Rockville, MD 20852
All objections must include the agency name and docket number.
