Abstract

Safety and Stability of Artificial Sweeteners in Dairy Products

Sumit Arora, Principal Scientist, National Dairy Research Institute

Artificial sweeteners can be used to expand markets for existing low-calorie products, such as jams and jellies, chewing gum, dairy foods and carbonated soft drinks. Development and approval of a variety of safe, low-calorie sweeteners and other low-calorie ingredients have helped to meet this consumer demand. The ideal sweetener should be stable in both acidic and basic conditions and over a wide range of temperatures. Long-term storage and heat stability are important factors for the use of intense sweeteners in many food products and beverages. Since, the application of artificial sweeteners in dairy products is new, quantitative information on its loss/degradation in dairy products is required to be investigated for its safe use. Hence, isolation protocol was developed and analytical conditions were standardized for the analysis of aspartame, acesulfame-K, saccharin, sucralose, neotame, maltitol and their different degradation products in flavoured milk, burfi, kalakand, lassi, cake and yoghurt. Effect of processing treatments (pasteurization, in-bottle sterilization, heat desiccation and fermentation) and storage conditions on the stability of the artificial sweeteners were also evaluated