Sweet'n Low

Cumberland Packing, Cumberland Street, Brooklyn
Sweet'n Low sweetener product

Sweet'n Low (stylized as Sweet'N Low) is a brand of artificial sweetener made primarily from granulated saccharin. It also contains dextrose and cream of tartar, and is distributed primarily in packets.

Sweet'n Low is manufactured and distributed in the United States by Cumberland Packing Corporation, which also produces Sugar in the Raw and Stevia in the Raw, and in the United Kingdom by Dietary Foods Ltd. Its patent is U.S. Patent 3,625,711. The trademark of words "Sweet'n Low" and the musical staff logo is U.S. Trademark registration No. 1,000,000.

In Canada, Sweet 'n Low is made from sodium cyclamate instead of saccharin. This is because saccharin was not allowed as a food additive in Canada, beginning in 1977, when studies surfaced showing cancer resulting in laboratory rats that had been administered the additive. In 2014, Canada lifted this ban since the studies were recently proven faulty, and several other countries have lifted their saccharin bans and warnings as well.[1]

Sweet'n Low has been licensed to Bernard Food Industries for a line of low-calorie baking mixes.

History

Saccharin was first discovered in 1878 by Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist working on coal tar derivatives at the Johns Hopkins University. Although saccharin was commercialized not long after its discovery, it was not until decades later that its use became widespread. Sweet'n Low was first introduced in 1957 by Benjamin Eisenstadt and his son, Marvin Eisenstadt. The elder Eisenstadt had earlier invented the sugar packet, but neglected to patent it, and artificial sweetener packets were an outgrowth of that business. The two were the first to market and distribute the sugar substitute in powdered form. Their distribution company, Cumberland Packing Corporation, still controls the product.

Brand name derivation

The name "Sweet'n Low" derives from an 1863 song by Sir Joseph Barnby, which took both its title and lyrics from an Alfred Lord Tennyson poem, entitled The Princess: Sweet and Low.[2]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sweet'n Low.