The risk assessment includes exposure assessments and the calculated exposures are compared to the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for the respective sweeteners and benzoic acid. The intake of sweeteners and benzoic acid for two-year-old children and 18-70 year old men and women were calculated. Due to lack of new dietary surveys, the other age groups of children and adolescents were excluded.

Exposure scenarios

Exposure calculations were made for four different scenarios with varying concentrations of added sweeteners (either the average concentration or the highest reported concentration for the respective sweetener) and varying consumption of beverages with sweeteners (either the actual reported consumption of beverages added sweetener or the assumption that all reported beverages were added sweeteners).

Scenario 1 gives the best estimate of the current situation in the population (average content of sweeteners/benzoic acid, actual reported consumption).

Scenarios 2-4 are based on one or both of the following assumptions: only beverages added sweeteners are consumed, the beverages consumed are added the highest reported value of the sweeteners (scenario 2: average content of sweeteners/benzoic acid, all consumed beverages contain sweeteners; scenario 3: highest reported content of sweeteners/benzoic acid, actual reported consumption; scenario 4: highest reported content of sweeteners/benzoic acid, all consumed beverages contain sweeteners).

Conclusions

VKM concludes that for all age groups in all scenarios the intake of sweeteners is well below the established ADI values, thus, there is no concern related to the intake of the sweeteners aspartame, acesulfame K or sucralose.

VKM further concludes that the benzoic acid intake in 2-year-old-children, in scenarios 3 and 4, is of concern as it reaches ADI for high consumers of soft drinks, “saft” and flavoured water, although the ADI is not a threshold for toxicity. For the other age groups, there is no concern related to the intake of benzoic acid from beverages. However, it should be noted that a considerable intake of benzoic acid also is expected from other sources such as food and cosmetics. High consumers of soft drinks, “saft” or flavoured water in all age groups could be at risk for approaching or exceeding ADI if the exposures from foods are taken into account. This is especially of concern for 2-year-old children, since high consumers of soft drinks and “saft” already have reached the ADI.