Aspartame (E951)

Aspartame is the sweetener the food industry lists as E951. In our table it is moderate risk: it takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100).

What Aspartame does to a score

A packaged food's additive subscore starts at 100 and loses points for each additive on the label; that subscore is a third of the final score. Aspartame takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100). Scan the pack in Sito and the score you get is the one for your own child's age, with this additive named in the reasons. How we score has the whole method.

What the sources found

Every classification in our table comes from the citations below, and nothing else. Each finding is our one-line summary of what the source concluded, with the source and reference beside it.

• IARC Monographs Volume 134 (2023), aspartame; monographs.iarc.who.int/news-events/iarc-monographs-evaluation-of-the-carcinogenicity-of-aspartame-methyleugenol-and-isoeugenol/
  A Working Group of 25 experts (Lyon, 6-13 June 2023) classified aspartame as Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans, on limited evidence for an association with hepatocellular carcinoma in humans.
• EFSA Journal 2013;11(12):3496, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2013.3496
  Full re-evaluation confirmed the ADI of 40 mg/kg bw/day and concluded aspartame was not of safety concern at current exposure estimates or at the ADI; intakes up to the ADI would not raise plasma phenylalanine above clinical guideline levels in normal subjects or PKU heterozygotes.
• FDA High-Intensity Sweeteners / Aspartame and Other Sweeteners in Food (fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-intensity-sweeteners)
  Aspartame remains an approved US food additive; FDA states it has no safety concerns at approved conditions of use, while people with phenylketonuria should avoid or restrict it.

Why this class

IARC Group 2B; or an EFSA re-evaluation that flagged genotoxicity data gaps, found safety could not be assessed on the available data, or cut the ADI citing child exposure; or an EU harmonised classification of the substance as a reproductive or developmental hazard; or an EU withdrawal of one authorised food use while others remain; or an OEHHA/Proposition 65 listing; or membership of the Southampton-six colourants.

Our confidence in this row's classification is high. Medium or low does not mean the evidence is weak; it means something about the row is still being pinned down, usually a regulatory status confirmed from one source rather than two.

Questions parents ask

Is Aspartame (E951) safe for kids?

Moderate risk. In Sito it takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100). The finding we rely on: A Working Group of 25 experts (Lyon, 6-13 June 2023) classified aspartame as Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans, on limited evidence for an association with hepatocellular carcinoma in humans (IARC Monographs Volume 134 (2023), aspartame; monographs.iarc.who.int/news-events/iarc-monographs-evaluation-of-the-carcinogenicity-of-aspartame-methyleugenol-and-isoeugenol/).

What is E951?

E951 is the E number for Aspartame, a sweetener. Open Food Facts tags it en:e951.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E951 in our table, then the closest sweeteners by number.

• Acesulfame K (E950), no risk identified
• Cyclamic acid and its Na and Ca salts (E952), high risk
• Isomalt (E953), moderate risk
• Saccharin and its salts (E954), moderate risk
• Sucralose (E955), low risk
• Steviol glycosides (E960), low risk, flagged for young children