FOOD ADDITIVESSACCHARIN
Sodium saccharin (benzoic sulfifimide) is an artifificial sweetener with effectively no food
energy. It is about 300-400 times as sweet as sucrose but has a bitter or metallic
aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Saccharin is used to sweeten products such
as drinks, candies, cookies, and medicines. Saccharin is heat stable.[citation needed] It
does not react chemically with other food ingredients; as such, it stores well. Blends of
saccharin with other sweeteners are often used to compensate for each sweetener’s
weaknesses and faults. A 10:1 cyclamate:saccharin blend is common in countries where
both these sweeteners are legal; in this blend, each sweetener masks the other’s off taste.
Saccharin is often used with aspartame in diet carbonated soft drinks, so some
sweetness remains should the fountain syrup be stored beyond aspartame’s relatively
short shelf life.
