FSSAI to assess WHO rules on sweeteners

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) said it would look at the impact of non-sugar sweeteners on the Indian population via an expert panel and engage with stakeholders before concluding any adverse effects of such additives used in foods and beverages. FSSAI’s comments follow news reports that said aspartame, a commonly used artificial sweetener, is set to be declared as a possible carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization (WHO). “We will look at the Indian perspective.

We really don’t have to go with what the world says. A lot of recommendations keep coming out. We have to look at the Indian population...then only we will take the decision," H.S.

Oberoi, an adviser at the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), said while addressing a panel at an industry event in the capital on Thursday. Oberoi said a panel set up by the FSSAI “is deliberating on that aspect". “WHO had come out with a paper saying non-sugar sweeteners are not linked to weight management, and now the second bombshell was that aspartame can cause cancer.

We have with us on the panel experts like Dr Shashank Joshi, a well-known endocrinologist...we are discussing it. The studies have to be done comprehensively before coming out with any kind of information or data. We don’t have to ape the West or ape the East when India itself today is in a powerful situation.

So we are working on what the Indian population looks at, what is the effect of consuming aspartame or non-sugar sweeteners on the Indian population. We do take the Indian data into consideration before we set out any standards," he added. FSSAI has a “very sturdy and