EFSA re-confirms aspartame safety

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has said there is no indication that aspartame causes cancer, following its assessment of a study that linked regular intake of the sweetener with an increased risk of certain cancers.

EFSA’s panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS) was asked by the European Commission for its scientific opinion on the results of the long-term carcinogenicity study of rats that were exposed to aspartame. The research, from the Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, claimed to have shown that rats given dosages of aspartame equivalent to the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) may develop tumours. However, EFSA has concluded that ‘on the basis of all the evidence currently available, that there is no need to further review the safety of aspartame nor to revise the previously established ADI’.