Food and beverage industry seeks aspartame substitute

But these concerns may be fleeting, as ingesting a small amount of aspartame is considered to have a minimal impact on health.

Bottles of diet soda are displayed at a discount mart in Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The food and beverage industry is scrambling to find an alternative to aspartame, a low-calorie sweetener due to its probable carcinogenicity.

Some companies are developing new aspartame-free products, while others are looking to replace the artificial sweetener.

But these concerns may be fleeting, as ingesting a small amount of aspartame is considered to have a minimal impact on health.

CU, a convenience store franchise run by BGF Retail, was quick to introduce a makgeolli (Korean rice wine) purportedly free of other ingredients except for water, rice and fermentation starter.

A model holds a bottle of aspartame-free makgeolli (Korean traditional rice wine) that CU, a convenience store franchise run by BGF Retail, introduced on Wednesday. [BGF RETAIL]

Seoul Jangsoo, a traditional alcohol maker, said it is “currently reviewing various measures” to address the issue, as most of its makgeolli products contain a tiny amount of aspartame.

A spokesperson for Orion, a food company, said that “about 10 of our products contain a minimum amount of aspartame at an average of 0.01 percent,” adding that “we are preemptively looking for a possible substitute, although the World Health Organization (WHO) is yet to make any announcements.”

Aspartame, commonly used in diet sodas and makgeolli, may be listed as “possibly carcinogenic” to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) starting July 14, according to Reuters and industry sources.

The WHO’s affiliate cancer research center classifies agents into five categories based on carcinogenicity: carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic, not classifiable and probably not carcinogenic.

“Possibly carcinogenic” substances have limited evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and experimental animals.

When the IARC classifies aspartame as a possibly carcinogenic agent, the Joint FAO[UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization]/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, or Jecfa, will likely announce a safety standard for aspartame consumption.

Following the upcoming IARC announcement, Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety plans to conduct its own risk assessment based on the country's average aspartame intake and implement a safety measure.

As several procedures from local regulators are needed before possibly banning or tightening regulations on aspartame intake, the IARC announcement is not likely to directly result in new rules any time soon in Korea.

In a previous case in 2015, when the IARC classified processed meat and red meat as carcinogenic and probably carcinogenic agents, the Korean regulator also conducted its independent safety assessment but did not issue additional regulations or tighten them.

Sales for processed meat products and red meat dipped by some 10 percent on the day of the announcement at discount stores but gradually rebounded afterward. Health experts also stressed that “an appropriate amount of [processed and red meat] intake can provide necessary nutrients.”

Consumer reactions are largely lukewarm at this point.

“There hasn’t been any significant dip in the sale of makgeolli with aspartame,” an employee at a Korean cuisine restaurant in central Seoul said on Wednesday.

“Customers were already aware that they would need to drink over 50 bottles of makgeolli for aspartame levels to be harmful to their body,” the employee added.

A restaurant owner based in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, added, “Although I’m aware that the most popular makgeolli at our place contains aspartame, there hasn’t been any notable change in sales figures yet.”

Aspartame, an artificial sweetener about 200 times sweeter than sugar, is often used as a low-calorie substitute for sugar.

Jecfa conducted its first safety assessment of the sweetener in 1975 and set up an acceptable daily intake (ADI) standard of 40 milligrams per 1 kilogram of body weight in 1980.

This means a child weighing 35 kilograms would need to drink 33 cans of Diet Coke daily to exceed the ADI standard.

Other food products classified as possibly carcinogenic include traditional Asian pickled vegetables, such as kimchi, and aloe vera extract.

BY KIM MIN-SANG [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]