Saccharin
This page explains what Saccharin is, where it shows up in restaurant food, and which ingredient reports connect to it.
- Concern
- Low / Limited Concern
- Function
- Artificial sweetener
- Updated
- 2026-03-02
What this is
Saccharin is a synthetic (non‑nutritive) sweetener (E 954) roughly 200–700 times sweeter than sucrose. It is a calorie‑free sugar substitute used in “diet” sodas, tabletop sweeteners (e.g. Sweet’N Low), and sugar‑free desserts or syrups. Global regulators regard saccharin as safe when consumed within approved limits. For example, the FDA and WHO consider it safe (it has GRAS/food‑additive status) and no warning labels are required. Early high‑dose rat studies linked saccharin to bladder tumors, but experts now agree that mechanism does not apply to humans. Consequently, IARC classifies saccharin (and its salts) as Group 3 (“not classifiable” for human cancer). Typical exposures from diet sodas or foods are far below the acceptable daily intake (ADI) established by regulators.
Critical Endpoints
The key endpoints experts review in safety assessments (critical endpoints). This is not a prediction of harm.
Restaurant Usage
3 linked ingredient reports
State Actions
0 current actions
No current state action is listed for this ingredient in the policy tracker.