Splenda in hot water with wide range of interests

Food & Drink Weekly, Feb 7, 2005

McNeil Nutritionals, manufacturers of the non-nutritive sweetener Splenda, is being sued by a wide range of companies and organizations for what the plaintiffs say is deceptive advertising. Merisant, the U.S. maker of the artificial sweeteners Equal and NutraSweet, which compete with Splenda, alleges that the product's marketing slogan, "made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar," has mislead consumers into thinking the artificial sweetener was natural. But McNeil Nutritionals, which developed Splenda, asserts that sucralose starts off as pure cane sugar, and is then chemically altered in the manufacturing process to create a new compound called sucralose which has zero calories and is 600 times sweeter than sugar.

Five separate lawsuits have been filed thus far in the United States. James Murphy, counsel for the Sugar Association, which filed one of the lawsuits, said, "We feel the public needs to be aware that Splenda is an artificial chemical sweetener. Splenda is created with chlorine, and the final product does not have sugar in it. People need accurate nutritional information to make good decisions on what they are feeding their families."

"From our perspective, whatever the outcome of the litigation, sucralose will still be made from sugar, and still taste like sugar," a spokesperson at Tate and Lyle told FoodNavigator.com. Sucralose was developed jointly by McNeil Nutritionals and British sugar giant Tate & Lyle, although Tate & Lyle became the sole manufacturer of Splenda earlier this year after reaching an agreement with McNeil Nutritionals. FoodNavigator.com reports that more than 3,500 products are now sweetened with sucralose. The ingredient retains its taste aft er being heated, which means it is suitable for use in products that are baked and pasteurized.