Saccharin and its salts (E954)

Saccharin and its salts are the sweeteners the food industry lists as E954. In our table they are moderate risk: they take 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100).

What Saccharin and its salts do 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. Saccharin and its salts take 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.

• EFSA Journal 2024;22(11):9044, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2024.9044 (PMC11565076), published Nov 2024
  New ADI of 9 mg/kg bw/day as free imide (replacing the SCF's 5 mg/kg bw/day as sodium saccharin); P95 chronic exposure in the refined brand-loyal scenario was below the ADI; no genotoxicity concern for E 954 or its Remsen-Fahlberg-process impurities, BUT a concern for genotoxicity was identified for potential impurities associated with the Maumee process.
• IARC Monographs Volume 73 (1999), 'Saccharin and its salts' (inchem.org/documents/iarc/vol73/73-19.html; IARC List of Classifications)
  Saccharin and its salts were reclassified as Group 3, not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans, with inadequate evidence in experimental animals for the acid form — the rat bladder mechanism depends on rat-specific urine chemistry.
• OEHHA notice, 'Saccharin Delisted Effective April 6, 2001 as Known to the State to Cause Cancer' (oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/crnr/saccharin-delisted-effective-april-6-2001-known-state-cause-cancer)
  Saccharin (CAS 81-07-2), listed under Prop 65 since 1989, was delisted effective 2001-04-06 following the IARC Group 3 reclassification and NTP's removal of saccharin from its 'reasonably anticipated' list in 2000.

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 medium. 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

Are Saccharin and its salts (E954) 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: New ADI of 9 mg/kg bw/day as free imide (replacing the SCF's 5 mg/kg bw/day as sodium saccharin); P95 chronic exposure in the refined brand-loyal scenario was below the ADI; no genotoxicity concern for E 954 or its Remsen-Fahlberg-process impurities, BUT a concern for genotoxicity was identified for potential impurities associated with the Maumee process (EFSA Journal 2024;22(11):9044, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2024.9044 (PMC11565076), published Nov 2024).

What is E954?

E954 is the E number for Saccharin and its salts, which our table lists as a sweetener. Open Food Facts tags it en:e954.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E954 in our table, then the closest sweeteners by number.

• Acesulfame K (E950), no risk identified
• Aspartame (E951), moderate risk
• Cyclamic acid and its Na and Ca salts (E952), high risk
• Isomalt (E953), moderate risk
• Sucralose (E955), low risk
• Steviol glycosides (E960), low risk, flagged for young children