How does a new sweetener get approved for use in foods and beverages in the United States? The most common way taken is the food additive petition route. If the information and data provided to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is satisfactory, the agency will indicate that the petition has been accepted for filing.

In the course of what is usually a lengthy (in some instances 10 years) and intensive review, the FDA requires substantial supporting data for their scientists to analyze. Additional external peer review may also be required. At a minimum, the following data are needed:

• How will the product be consumed and how much?
• Who, including children, adults, men and women, will consume the ingredient, and how much will each group consume?
• What does the ingredient do as an additive to food?
• Is the ingredient toxic and what levels are safe?
• Does the product have the potential to: cause cancer; affect reproduction; be stored in the body; be metabolized into other, potentially unsafe products; or cause allergic reaction?
• How and where is the ingredient made, who makes it, how pure is it?
• Is the ingredient suitable to food processing and consumer use?

During approval, the FDA also sets an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for the ingredient, which is the amount that can be safely consumed on a daily basis over a person's lifetime. The ADI for aspartame, for example, is 50 milligrams per kilogram per day. For a 150-pound adult, this translates to 20 12-ounce containers of carbonated soft drink or 97 packets of tabletop sweetener per day over a lifetime.

The process does not stop with approval. The FDA usually requires an ingredient to be monitored for consumer complaints in addition to dietary surveys to determine consumption.