ACESULFAME POTASSIUM

CAS: 55589-62-3 NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENER

Acesulfame potassium is a high-intensity, calorie-free synthetic sweetener used in foods and beverages to provide sweetness without nutritive energy and is included in food additive regulations.

What It Is

Acesulfame potassium is a synthetic, high-intensity non-nutritive sweetener recognized for its ability to impart significant sweetness to food and beverage formulations with essentially no caloric contribution. Structurally, it is the potassium salt of a substituted oxathiazinone dioxide and is identified by the chemical abstract service registry number 55589-62-3. Acesulfame potassium is known by several synonyms, including Ace-K and other chemical salt designations, due to its molecular arrangement and formulation versatility. Its primary technical function in food formulation is as a sweetening agent, replacing part or all of the sweetness that would otherwise be provided by sucrose or other nutritive sugars. The non-nutritive characteristic means that it provides negligible energy in the amounts used, and it is frequently included in low-calorie, reduced-sugar, or diet formulations as part of product labeling strategies.

How It Is Made

Commercial manufacture of acesulfame potassium involves multi-step organic synthesis designed to produce the oxathiazinone dioxide core followed by introduction of the potassium counterion to form the stable salt. While specific process patent details vary by manufacturer, the general approach starts with acetoacetic derivatives and reactive sulfonylating agents that cyclize to form the core heterocyclic ring. After formation of the base acesulfame structure, neutralization with potassium hydroxide yields the potassium salt with high purity. The resulting product is typically isolated and purified to meet food-grade specifications, with regulatory documents outlining a minimum purity threshold often around 99% on a dry basis to ensure consistent product quality and behavior in food systems. Quality control standards define physical attributes, assay methods, and impurity limits to support safe use, and manufacturing follows good practice standards to meet food regulatory requirements.

Why It Is Used In Food

Acesulfame potassium is used in food systems primarily for its intense sweetness, which is many times that of sucrose, allowing manufacturers to achieve sweetness at very low inclusion levels. Its non-nutritive profile makes it suitable for products targeting reduced caloric content, reduced sugar claims, or specific dietary preferences where energy from sugar is limited. In addition, acesulfame potassium is often blended with other sweeteners because such blends can offer a more sugar-like sweetness profile and help mask potential aftertastes associated with single sweeteners. Its technological utility includes stability under a range of processing conditions, enabling its application in beverages, baked goods, and other products that experience heat or variable pH conditions during manufacturing and storage.

Adi Example Calculation

To illustrate the concept of an acceptable daily intake (ADI) in an example calculation, consider an illustrative ADI value expressed by regulatory panels in terms of milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day. For a person weighing 70 kilograms, multiplying their body weight by an ADI of 15 milligrams per kilogram per day yields an illustrative total daily amount of the additive considered acceptable for chronic intake across a lifetime. Such examples are intended for conceptual understanding of how ADI values relate to body weight and typical consumer intake scenarios.

Safety And Health Research

Regulatory safety assessments for acesulfame potassium involve evaluation of toxicological data, metabolism studies, and dietary exposure estimates to determine whether its use in foods poses safety concerns within typical consumption patterns. Evaluations by authorities such as the European Food Safety Authority include reviews of available toxicology and exposure data to support risk assessment processes. Scientific reviews consider data related to general toxicity, genotoxicity, and metabolic fate in the context of food additive safety. Because it is not metabolized to a significant extent and is excreted largely unchanged, toxicokinetic profiles are part of the safety evaluation frameworks. These evaluations emphasize the breadth of available data and the application of uncertainty factors to derive intake benchmarks used in regulatory decision-making.

Regulatory Status Worldwide

In the United States, acesulfame potassium is included in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 172.800, which lists it as an approved sweetener subject to specifications for identity and purity. This regulatory listing reflects evaluation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and outlines conditions of use in food formulations. In the European Union, acesulfame potassium is recognized under the additive code E950 and has been re-evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) with recent assessments reaffirming its safety for use within established intake limits. At the international level, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has historically reviewed acesulfame potassium, although older monographs did not allocate a specific acceptable daily intake in early evaluations; more recent EFSA work provides updated context for exposure considerations. Regulatory frameworks in many countries allow its use in specified food categories under defined conditions that align with Codex Alimentarius standards and national food additive regulations.

Taste And Functional Properties

Acesulfame potassium has an intensely sweet taste profile that is perceivable at concentrations far below those of sucrose. It provides sweetness without contributing calories and is recognized for its stability under heat and across a range of pH conditions relevant to many food products. Due to its intrinsic chemical profile, it exhibits minimal degradation under typical baking and processing temperatures, which makes it fit for use in various applications from beverages to confectionery. Sensory experience with this sweetener alone can sometimes include a slight bitter or metallic aftertaste at higher usage levels, which is one reason it is commonly blended with other intense sweeteners to achieve a balanced sweetness profile. Its functional behavior in aqueous solutions combined with solubility characteristics supports its inclusion in many liquid and dry food systems.

Acceptable Daily Intake Explained

An acceptable daily intake (ADI) is a health-based guidance value representing the amount of a substance that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk, derived through scientific evaluation of toxicological data and application of safety factors. Regulatory assessments of sweeteners like acesulfame potassium use available animal and other data to identify points of departure and apply uncertainty factors to derive an ADI that helps risk assessors compare estimated dietary exposure to a level considered without safety concern. The ADI is not a recommended target for consumption but a benchmark for safety evaluations to support regulatory decisions about allowable uses in foods.

Comparison With Similar Additives

Acesulfame potassium is one of several high-intensity non-nutritive sweeteners used in reduced-calorie and sugar-free products. Compared with aspartame, it is more stable to heat and pH, which makes it more suitable for baked goods and some beverage applications, while aspartame’s sensory profile can be perceived as more sugar-like in some applications. Sucralose, another non-nutritive sweetener, is generally sweeter than acesulfame potassium and also heat stable, yet formulators often use blends of sweeteners because different sweeteners can balance taste profiles and aftertaste characteristics. Saccharin, an earlier high-intensity sweetener, can have a more pronounced bitter or metallic note, which again influences formulators’ choice to combine it with other sweeteners to achieve a target sweetness quality.

Safety & Regulations

FDA

  • Approved: True
  • Regulation: 21 CFR 172.800

EFSA

  • Approved: True
  • E Number: E950
  • Adi Display: 15 mg/kg body weight per day
  • Adi Mg Per Kg: 15

JECFA

  • Notes: JECFA specific ADI not extracted from authoritative document
  • Ins Number: 950

Sources

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