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Major players in the global food and beverage industry are apprehensively waiting for the World Health Organization's (WHO) impending declaration of aspartame as a possible carcinogen. This widely-used artificial sweetener is a key ingredient in numerous diet drinks, yogurt drinks, and sugar-free gums.
The Korea Times reported that in South Korea, officials said on Sunday, June 2, that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is operating under WHO, is set to classify the said sweetener as "possibly carcinogenic to humans."
It was mentioned that aspartame is one of the most popular substitutes to sweeten foods and beverages without adding sugar. It is commonly used in Diet Coke, Diet Snapple, yogurt drinks, chewing gums, and makgeolli in South Korea.
Moreover, in the local market, Pepsi Zero, which Lotte Chilsung Beverage is distributing, also has aspartame as an ingredient. The company has been importing this soda drink directly from PepsiCo's main office in New York and only bottles them in Korea.
"Aspartame has been used by F&B companies around the world for a long time. It is not an issue of an individual company but rather that of the whole related industry, globally. We are currently discussing the matter with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and will wait to see what they have to say," an official at Lotte Chilsung Beverage said in a statement.
If aspartame is classified as a carcinogen, Lotte will suffer great economic damage since sales of Pepsi Zero is likely to drop with the news. Fortune reported that WHO is set to officially announce the results of its evaluations starting on July 14.
Finally, WHO initially said that there is still limited evidence that links aspartame to cancer, and it is the lowest of three categories which are "probable carcinogen" and "carcinogenic to humans."
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