The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has delayed the release of a re-evaluation of the sweetener aspartame, in order to facilitate additional review of new data.
While the release was scheduled for September 2012, the EFSA had asked the European Commission (EC) -- the governing body for the 27-country European Union (EU), for extra time. The EU eventually granted the request.
EFSA noted that the extra time will enable scientific experts to consider new data and complete a comprehensive risk assessment in addition to allowing time for a draft version to be circulated for comments before the new re-evaluation becomes final.
EFSA was scheduled to conduct a re-evaluation of aspartame in time for a 2020 release date. However, the EC asked the work to be advanced by eight years to 2012.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener, which is used as a sugar substitute in beverages, desserts, dairy products, chewing gums, energy control and weight control products. However, several criticisms have been raised regarding the safety of the sweetener, which led to EFSA considering a re-evaluation.
