Plain Language Summary of the re‐evaluation of saccharin and its sodium, potassium and calcium salts (E 954) as food additives

Re-evaluation of saccharin and its sodium, potassium and calcium salts (E 954) as food additives Overview Saccharin and its sodium, potassium and calcium salts, or saccharins (E 954), are food additives used as non-nutritive sweeteners.They provide sweetness without adding calories or nutritional value. The EU's Scientific Committee on Food initially evaluated saccharins in 1995. For the current opinion, the EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (the FAF Panel) reevaluated the safety of saccharins. EFSA has previously published re-evaluations of other sweeteners: aspartame (E 951) in 2013, thaumatin (E 957) in 2021, neohesperidine DC (E 959) in 2022, and erythritol (E 968) in 2023.What was EFSA asked to do?The European Commission (EC) 1 established a programme to re-evaluate the safety of food additives that were approved in the European Union (EU) before 20 January 2009.The current FAF Panel assessment of saccharins is part of this programme. How did EFSA carry out this work? The FAF Panel followed structured protocols based on criteria and methodologies previously established for sweeteners (EFSA, 2020a; EFSA, 2020b; EFSA FAF Panel, 2023). These protocols include identifying potential harmful effects (hazard identification), determining the minimum amount in the diet that could harm a healthy person (hazard characterisation) and assessing the level of exposure in the EU population.PLS: Re-evaluation of saccharins (E 954) as a food additive PLS: Re-evaluation of saccharins (E 954) as a food additive