Salt of aspartame-acesulfame (E962): What the Sources Found

Salt of aspartame-acesulfame is the sweetener the food industry lists as E962. In our table it is moderate risk: it takes 15 of the 33 additive points off a product's score for a child.

In short

Moderate risk. 15 of the 33 additive points come off a product that carries it.
No child flag. Nothing below is written about children specifically, so the class is the same at every age.
3 citations from IARC, EFSA, each one below.

What Salt of aspartame-acesulfame does to a score

A packaged food starts with 33 points for what is in its ingredient list. Salt of aspartame-acesulfame takes 15 of the 33 additive points off a product's score. 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. They are quoted as the source wrote them.

IARC Monographs Volume 134 (2023), aspartame — applied to the aspartame moiety of E 962
Aspartame is classified Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans; E 962 dissociates to aspartame and acesulfame K, so the 2B hazard travels with the aspartame moiety.
EFSA Call for data on genotoxicity data on sweeteners, 2021-06-30 (efsa.europa.eu/en/call/call-data-genotoxicity-data-sweeteners)
Salt of aspartame-acesulfame (E 962) is one of the nine sweeteners named as having identified genotoxicity information needs; no re-evaluation opinion for E 962 has been published (Europe PMC EFSA Journal check, 2026-08-10).
EFSA Journal 2025;23(4):9317 (acesulfame K) and EFSA Journal 2013;11(12):3496 (aspartame)
Both constituent moieties have current ADIs with no exposure exceedance reported in any age group (ace-K 15 mg/kg bw/day, 2025; aspartame 40 mg/kg bw/day, 2013), so the deduction rests on the IARC hazard classification, not on intake.

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.